About Kay Gaston and her class on January 31st and February 1st

On Saturday, January 31st and Sunday February 1st Kay Gaston will be teaching a fused glass workshop, a new offering on the roster of classes given at The Art Stand Gallery. The class is open to all comers.

Kay grew up in a world of textiles. She was taught to sew, knit and crochet at an early age and found her first artistic muse in the textile medium. She is a physical therapist and that calling allowed her to discover the wonders of the human body which she adorned when she was creating wearable art. She melded the two worlds when she began making cloth dolls in 1993 and started ' plain & FANCY by kay' a small textile art business. She hastens to thank elinor peace bailey for her whimsical patterns of Monique and Amethyst. Making those dolls started her love for this art form.

One of the beauties of making cloth dolls is that she learned so many skills to embellish them. This led to beading and jewelry making that ultimately led to fusing glass into jewelry. "If I'm not creating a cloth body, I'm embellishing it," Kay says.

In July of 2005 she began working with fused glass and immediately became enthralled with the possibilities. The dichroic coating has a luminescent glow and every time the kiln opens it is full of surprises. "It's like quilting a patchwork but with glass". Kay has subsequently added silversmithing to her art forms to enhance her jewelry.

You are encouraged to visit Kay's website for more about the artist and her work. www.plainNfancybykay.com