Kathy, in her workshop, holds a rainbow reverse weave plate.

Artist’s Profile written by Don Conkey

Kathy Glista is an artist whose creations are formed by fragile strength.

Fragile, because they are glass, and glass can break.

Strength, because of Kathy’s unwavering commitment to her artistry – engaging in what can be a
painstaking process and making every piece as distinctive, and unique, as it can possibly be.

Kathy’s artistic specialty is fused glass. Her creations include jewelry, bowls, suncatchers, candle
holders, and art with recycled bottles.

The process of fusing glass is not a simple one: it involves cutting compatible glass pieces;
assembling them into a design; firing them in a kiln at high temperatures to melt and fuse them
together; carefully cooling the pieces to prevent cracking; and, if needed, doing further firings to
shape the glass into a final form, such as a bowl or plate. Most if not all pieces require at least
two firings of 10 to 12 hours each time.

The heating and the cooling are where the artist’s artistry flourishes. It is a waiting game – hour
upon hour upon hour – that can test one’s skills, and patience.

“The waiting can be excruciating,” she says – excruciating, but so delightfully rewarding when
that wait is finally over, and she opens her kiln and gazes at the latest glass creation that her
imagination has ordered up.

“When you open the oven, you’re never quite sure,” she said.

“Occasionally a piece does not come out as planned, but that is the wonderful thing about glass:
it can almost always be turned into something else, in some cases more beautiful than the
original design.”

Her home workshop is a wonderland of glass, with Kathy pointing out special things she loves
about each and every piece, occasional flaws and all.

Sometimes, a flaw is just one more thing to appreciate.

She held up a curved plate. “This one cracked in the kiln,” she said. “But I put it back together,
did some other things to it … and today, it’s now solid even though it looks like it has a crack.

“I love it. It’s unique. And nobody, including me, could ever duplicate it.”

Kathy, a West Springfield resident, had her passion in glass first sparked while attending a class
in glassblowing at Snow Farm in Williamsburg.

She enjoyed the class, found glassblowing fascinating, “but it was hard, physically, for me. I’m a
survivor of cancer, and my arms just wouldn’t do it.”

But, “I was really interested in the properties of glass. And, so, I found out that I could do fusing
– in a microwave.”

She started with jewelry, the right size for a small kiln that fit in the microwave. “There was a lot
of trial and error,” she said.

She went back to Snow Farm, took a class in fusing, “and learned that there was so much more,”
the techniques that could potentially take her anywhere and everywhere she wanted her artistry
to go.

She bought a kiln, the vehicle that would get her there.

And today, her artistry is thriving.

Her website – Glass-creations-by-kathy.com — has evolved into a place where people can view
some of Kathy’s work, learn how she got involved in fusing, and follow her continued growth as
an artist.

She is a consistent presence at area art shows, including the Pioneer Valley Art Festival, held
each summer by Agawam Community Artists and Artisans, a group of which she is a member.

Whenever people meet Kathy – at a show, a meeting, wherever she happens to be – they are met
with a smile, and a demeanor that envelops them in warmth.

They would not get a sense about the cold battle she has had to wage.

“I hate the word ‘survivor,’” Kathy said. “I had a counselor tell me once that I was a durable
woman. Her husband had a necklace made, with the word ‘Durable’ in script.

“That gets me through a lot of things. That it was long lasting, able to, you know, last through
tough things. So, I guess that’s what I am. Durable.”

Kathy does not mind if people know about what she’s gone through regarding cancer. But, rather
than people focusing on that, she would prefer that they focus on her art – and the artist behind it.
The person that she is.

“Everyone is going through something,” she said. “And who you are, what you’re going through,
is not as important as what you do with the time you have.”