As an artist, you get asked a lot “how did you become an artist?”  I’ve known my whole life that I loved art and that I was what my friends called “crafty.”  I did not know that I would ultimately be an “artist.”  I grew up playing the violin in school and for that choice I was never allowed to take art class in school.  It was something that I always felt I missed out on.  I grew up, went to college, married my best friend, and had two great sons.  While working full time and raising our children, I would dabble in various art things.  I took a drawing class with a friend and had two of my works in the teacher’s art show.  I’ve worked with polymer clay and sold holiday pins at a local store.  I’ve done scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, ceramics, and photography just to name a few.  I even wire wrapped wine glasses with purchased beads to sell at a local boutique.  That’s how I got interested in glass beads.  I trained under my mentors, Ed and Nancy Sharr in 1999.  They were great teachers and I owe them the majority of the credit for where I am today.   Since then, I’ve studied under a great glass artist, Loren Stump.  He showed me that there are no boundaries for glass and what you can do with it.

After working full time my whole adult life, I was laid off in October 2009.  Yes, it was traumatic, but I feel fortunate to have been a “part time” glass artist.  Now, I am able to devote all of my time to working with glass and making glass creations, beads and jewelry.  I love to open the kiln in the morning to see what treasures I created the night before.  I also like to put my glass together with silver to make unique, one of a kind creations.  I thrive on custom orders because they challenge me and sometimes my abilities.   My work has been featured in Better Homes & Garden magazine 3 different times and has been shipped all over the world.  I travel all over the USA selling my art at different events and sharing my passion with others.

I look forward to sharing my passion with you.

Lori Murga