Elizabeth Mears: Heart of Glass

For Elizabeth Mears, the glass objects that glimmer back at her from every corner of her Fairfax Station home are more than an exhibition of her life's work. They are also a source of inspiration.

Since picking up glassworking over 30 years ago, Mears has learned and taught within the field, moving from a rudimentary understanding to gaining an Award of Excellence two years ago at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. She displays the work of other artists in her home, as well as her own.

"I need to surround myself with things that feed my spiritual inner self. I feed off that, and it helps my own creativity," said the 60-year-old studio artist working in glass and mixed media.

Mears has also become an artist without fear, according to Patricia Ghigliano, director of the Washington Sculpture Center, where Mears is teaching classes in flameworking and glass sculpture "She's adventurous," said Ghigliano. "She explores, with no fear, different techniques, which is quite unusual for an artist."

Along with awards from other craft shows and exhibits in over a dozen states, Mears has also designed and installed stained glass windows in churches in Burke, Springfield and Bethesda, Md.

"I love making things, and I have been a maker from a very early age," said Mears, who will be exhibiting in a pair of high-profile retail craft shows this fall: the Philadelphia

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