Bella Art Glass, Murphys, CA
I make fused glass 'wearable art'---uniquely my own style of pendants, earrings, bracelets, rings, belt buckles, and money clips, with more products under development. I am retired and work in my home glass art studio, and show at arts and crafts festivals, as well as at my local Arts Council gallery. Below is my Artist Biography:
Terri Stickles Strunck
Fused Glass Artist
Murphys, California
Terri was born and raised in San Mateo, CA, where as a young girl, her dream was not in the field of art, but quite the opposite, in sports. After winning a medal in the 1964 Olympic Games in Swimming, she went to college, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South America, and was a Police Officer in the Bay Area. It was only after she, her husband Bob and son Chris moved to Murphys in 1985, that the world of art began to enter her life.
Terri realized that she had a desire to be creative, the missing link in her otherwise polar opposite life to date. She started taking glass art classes, as glass had always fascinated her. From the time she was a little girl she use to watch, mesmerized for hours, the hot glass sculpture exhibitions at the county fair.
For several years Terri studied techniques in stained glass, glass mosaics, torchwork beads, and glass fusing, but it was in this last glass medium that she found her niche. She acquired a glass kiln and has been mostly self-taught, always experimenting with new glass, shapes, and fusing techniques. “It is like Christmas morning when I get up and hurry into the studio to open the kiln to see what I have made!”, said Terri, since the kiln has to cool overnight.
Terri is retired, and at the age of 62, feels that she is reinventing herself, and is now pursuing 'the other half of my life!' Her work is permanently exhibited at the Calaveras Arts Council “Gallery Calaveras” in San Andreas, she is a member of the Calaveras Gem and Mineral Society, and the Calaveras Integrated Artisans. She has also been exhibiting and selling her 'wearable art' at arts and crafts shows since 2007, where her work has been very well received. Terri's husband has taken an interest in her glass art, and is now her studio assistant.
