Patricia Westby
~ Lampwork
Pat's mom was an oil painter and did a variety of crafts and Pat has been "crafting" since early grade
school when someone showed her how to make a daisy chain with seed beads. She would also carve
horses with delicate legs from a bar of soap and her mom would proudly display them on the fireplace
mantel. That started her "whittling" period in high school. Then, her Dad's engineering influence
launched her on a path of trying various techniques and media. “At times I think I'm more of a
techniques person than an artist” explains Pat. ”As I grow older and my Christian faith develops; I'm
starting to get some ideas on how to pull everything together to create artistic pieces that will reveal
my struggles with, and celebration of, life.”
Since 2002, Pat’s been focusing on lampworking - making glass beads
with rods of colored glass. Some of her favorite lampwork techniques
are using mica (stone) and enamels to decorate the beads.
She still keeps a hand in lapidary, enameling, glass fusing, wire wrapping,
bead stringing and pysanky.
Pat studied lampworking with Jim Smircich and Rita Burkholder.
She was awarded an honorable mention in a bead contest
by Frantz Art Glass in 2007.
She is a member of the Miami Valley Lampwork Bead Artists,
the Indiana ISLAGA bead group and the International Society of Glass
Beadmakers (ISGB). She teaches 9-week classes in
lampworking at the Riverbend Art Center in Dayton, OH.
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