SUELLEN FOWLER has blown and sculpted glass for over forty years. She is the foremost practitioner of a method of flameworking characterized by working off the end of a glass blowpipe. Building layers of clear and colour glass, her finished vessels are rich in colour and intricate design.

She displayed a passion for colour, drawing and sculpting at an early age. Encouraged by her parents to develop these talents she was enrolled at the age of nine, and took art classes for several years, at the Chounard Art Institute in Los Angeles.

In the summer of 1969, at the tender age of fourteen, she enrolled in the Glass Workshop at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. The program was directed by John Burton and taught by his first apprentice, Margaret Youd. Fowler was instantly captivated by the scintillating qualities of light and colour in this volatile medium. Under Margaret's able instruction, she rapidly acquired technical skills. Within a few months, she was assisting other students in the class. Burton recognized her skill, and during a two-year period beginning in late 1970, she received private lessons at Burton's studio in Montecito.

At the time of the Glass Workshop (1968 - 1973), borosilicate glass had a limited and unsophisticated palette of colours available to the artist. A small group of students began researching chemical formulae that led to an improved though still limited range of coloured borosilicate cane. After the demise of the workshop, Fowler continued working independently developing her own extensive range of colour formulae.

Fowler considers herself to be a colourist. She has been influenced by painters such as Turner and Whistler, and the Impressionists. She deeply loves Klee for his beautiful use of colour, and the tenderness and whimsicality expressed in his paintings.

Fowler has developed an instantly recognizable style. More than any other aspect of her work, she is known for the exquisite palette of coloured cane that she uses in her pieces, every piece of which she mixes and hand pulls herself.

Suellen Fowler's work will always stand out from the rest of the lampworkers of the world because of her devotion to the John Burton method of lampworking, her unique palette of hand-mixed colours, the absolute precision of her skills, and her uncompromising esthetic quality.

Fowler's work was on exhibit at the Museum of American Glass in Wheaton Village, in a 1998 show curated by Paul Stankard. Collected worldwide, Suellen Fowler's work was selected by the Director of the Corning Museum of Glass for inclusion in the permanent collection.

Beginner/Intermediate Class:  three day workshops 17th - 19th July $900.00

This class will introduce beginners and intermediate level lampworkers to the basics of the John Burton method of off-hand flamework glassblowing with boroscilicate. Instead of pulling points to blow a bubble, layers of clear or coloured glass rods are coiled around the end of a glass blowpipe, melted in the flame, and blown into a bubble, then decorated in different motifs with colored cane.

A vessel is then shaped and finished off with a stopper or sculptural element. Fowler will demonstrate hand mixing coloured rods from oxide formulae she's discovered over the last 40+ yrs. Simple solid sculpture techniques will be explored, and methods for improving the results from use of commercial boroscilicate colours will be demonstrated, too.

Beginner/Intermediate Class:  three day workshops  20th - 22nd July $900.00

This class will introduce beginners and intermediate level lampworkers to the basics of the John Burton method of off-hand flamework glassblowing with boroscilicate. Instead of pulling points to blow a bubble, layers of clear or coloured glass rods are coiled around the end of a glass blowpipe, melted in the flame, and blown into a bubble, then decorated in different motifs with colored cane.

A vessel is then shaped and finished off with a stopper or sculptural element. Fowler will demonstrate hand mixing coloured rods from oxide formulae she's discovered over the last 40+ yrs. Simple solid sculpture techniques will be explored, and methods for improving the results from use of commercial boroscilicate colours will be demonstrated, too.

Intermediate to Advanced:  three day workshop 23rd - 25th July $900.00

Emphasis in this class will be on more advanced sculptural and blowing techniques, although demonstrating some of the basics from the previous classes will be carried over into this workshop, too.

Included in the class will be the process for building more complex sculptures, such as dragons, and how to use cane to create impressionistic patterns in naturalistic sculptures of birds and creatures. Students will have an opportunity to learn how to hand mix colour cane from oxide formulas.

  Suellen Fowler will be running 3 classes at the festival.

	Suellen 1	Beginner/Intermediate Class:  three day workshop	17th - 19thJuly	$900.00
	Suellen 2	Beginner/Intermediate Class:  three day workshop	20th - 22ndJuly	$900.00
	Suellen 3	Intermediate to Advanced:  three day workshop	23rd - 25thJuly	$900.00