Becky Schupbach: Sea Change Designs

Artist's Statement
My work is about transformation. The ancient art of glass-working transforms earthy matter (silica, soda, lime, metal salts) into vitreous substances with an extraordinarily wide range of color, transparency, translucence or opacity. In my work, I use colored rods of soda-lime glass made using traditional methods by Effetre (Moretti), one of the oldest glass manufacturers in Italy.

When I first introduce the glass into the flame, it is hard and unyielding and it may crack from thermal shock. As the glass begins to soften in the heat of the torch, it becomes molten and luminous and I can transform it. As I work with hot glass, I experience its organic properties, as I play with the effects of heat, gravity and surface tension to shape and form it. Because I must keep the work in constant motion to ensure that it is evenly heated and to find just the right place in the flame to achieve malleability without losing detail, I experience the act of working with hot glass as a dance of creation. For me, glass working is a metaphor for the process of artistic creation and self-discovery.

I strive to capture in my work the idea of glass as frozen fire. Glass holds and reflects light. It delights and enchants us with its qualities of luminescence and fluidity. These are the qualities that inspire me. I enjoy transforming molten glass into small mystical or whimsical sculptures, using the magical qualities of glass to suggest the flutter of a fin or the inner fire of a goddess. But I also seek to impart this spirit of transformation even to the simplest bead, capturing the power of the flame in its heart.

Becky recently opened a gallery with five of her friends a the Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center in Louisville, KY. The name of the gallery is Janjobe. The entire complex is a renovated industrial plant with lots of artists studios and galleries. Her work is there, as well as in other galleries. Two versions of her tree goddess bead were included in a book called "1000 Glass Beads," which was published by Lark Publications. Becky offers a discount to WW women!

About Becky
I did my Woman Within in January 1999 at Flat Rock, Indiana. I have staffed 15 Woman Within weekends and I am a FIT 2 on the facilitation track. I have been actively involved in Woman Within at both the community and regional level. I serve on the Leadership Circle of Woman To Woman Kentuckiana and have done so since it was founded. I chaired Woman To Woman Kentuckiana from 2004-2005. I am currently serving as Director of E-Circle Training Guides for Woman To Woman Kentuckiana. I created and, for four years, published Circle of Women, the newsletter of the Woman To Woman Kentuckiana community. From December, 2000-June 2003, I was a member of the Board of Directors of Woman To Woman Midwest, Inc. and served as Director of Communications.

I have been an active member of my E-Circle since 1999 and I am also a member of a Mixed I/E Group. I am a Certified Shadow Work facilitator and I lead and facilitate mixed gender Shadow Work Weekends with my husband, Jeff Baugher. I am also a Shadow Work facilitator for the Women In Power Trainings and serve as Executive Director of Women In Power and Registrar for its United States weekends. I also work full time as an attorney in private practice.

The personal growth work that I have done through Woman Within, Women In Power and Shadow Work has made a powerful difference in my life. I have opened my heart more fully in all of my relationships with family and friends. I have embraced my creative self and made time in my life for the work of my spirit. My mission is to bring healing to myself and to others through creativity and inner growth. I do this through my artwork and my work as a personal growth facilitator.

Becky Schupbach Sea Change Designs 1701 Windsor Place Louisville, Ky. 40204 502-458-0705 email: whitewolf1616@yahoo.com

Becky's jewelry was photographed by David Bennett email: davidbnntt@aol.com

See more of Becky's jewelry here >>>>

        Tree Goddess 2 Bead

Artist’s Vita
Becky Schupbach’s first lessons in jewelry making started with silversmithing under her father’s watchful eye when she was a teenager. She continued to pursue her love of making jewelry and working with fiber, even as she pursued a successful career as an attorney. In 1999, she discovered the thrill of working with glass and quickly mastered the art of glass beadmaking through classes with internationally acclaimed glass artists. She has studied in Murano, Italy with Lucio Bubacco, at Penland School for the Arts with Paul Stankard and Lucio Bubacco, and in workshops with Pati Walton, Jim Smirchich, Shane Fero and Ann Davis. She is a member of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, Glass Bead Artisans of Kentucky, and a juried member of the Kentucky Museum of Art + Craft, the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen and the Kentucky Crafted Market. Her work has been exhibited at Kentucky Crafted: The Market, Cherokee Triangle Art Fair, Art in the Arbor, Winter Fair, the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen Art Fair at Berea, Kentucky Museum of Art + Craft, Glassworks, Kentucky Artisan Center, Pottery Rowe, Hawks Eye Glassblowing Studio, TryArt Gallery, and the Intergalactic Bead Show in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her sculptural glass work has been featured in 1000 Glass Beads (Lark Publications 2004), “Vessels” (Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, Kentucky), “Mystical Beings,” (two person show at Pottery Rowe) and a show curated by Glassworks at the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky. She has also participated in the International Society of Glass Beadmakers Annual Show/Sale in 2002 and 2005 and show/sales of original work by Kentucky glass beadmakers in 2001-2003.