Ann Klem, Fisherville, KY

Ann Klem Reflections

glass - lampworked

Ann had admired and touched glass for many years. After a career in computer work, she dove into creating art with glass. He currently uses two processes. The first process is lampworking, which she uses to make her own original lampworked glass beads for jewelry. Ann draws most of her inspiration from her love of strong color and from images in her environment. Working with the hot glass at an oxygen-propane torch, Ann gathers colored and clear glass onto her mandrel to layer and shape the beads she needs to complete an idea for a piece of finished jewelry. She explains, "Making glass beads gives me the chance to explore the fluid forms of glass and how colors react with one another." Recently she has begun creating kiln-formed glass work as well. This work often requires multiple firings. First she combines colors to create a custom sheet glass. This sheet glass is then cut into strips and a variety of strips fused together. The fused strips are then taken to a tile saw and cut into shapes. Ann combines these cut shapes with other glass to create coasters, clock faces, picture frames, slumped bowls and stand-alone wall art.

Ann adds that in addition to being a glass artist and a grandmother, she and her husband are active in competitive car racing.

Ann Klem’s work can be found at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY; Gallery 104, LaGrange, KY; and the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, Berea, KY.