About: Artist Nancy Allen

Nancy Allen creates one-of-a-kind fused glass collages using "enhanced" glass pieces woven into intricate visual textures and designs. These works derive their names from dances due to the steps, movement and moods that are created. Allen, a former art teacher and jewelry-maker, typically begins each piece with an idea for a design. She then makes sheets of enhanced or decorated glass using confetti (thin pieces of broken glass), stringers (long thin threads of glass), noodles (flant thin strings of glass) and frits (fine, medium or coarse ground

"I'm influenced by patterns in nature and in works by Matisse and Gustav Klimt, and aware of spacing and size relationships in Mondrain. The excitement of working in color and texture that can be created in glass is fascinating to me. Working out designs can involve the skills of jewelry making, painting and design to achieve the desired effects. The thrill of opening the kiln to see the richness of the colors and the depth created in the glass is wonderous."

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