Kathy Glista

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.”