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Artist Bio:
Demetra Theofanous has been immersed in the arts from a very young
age, starting with violin lessons at the age of 4. With the
addition of piano, ballet, and theater as she grew older, her
exploration of creative mediums grew.
This thirst for expression was temporarily diverted, when she
received her business degree from the Haas School of Business, at UC
Berkeley. After some years as a tax consultant and CPA, she began
to pursue her Masters in Tax, to open a private practice. It was
then that she realized there was something missing in her work, and
had a desire to return to her roots.
Demetra first entered the medium of glass through the art of
lampworking, creating glass beads as a hobby. She was
immediately facinated by the art form however, and found her ideas
and sketches needed to be translated on a larger scale. In the
fall of 2006, she had the opportunity to explore this, when she took
on a 3 month lampworking apprenticeship. In doing so, she was
introduced to borosilicate glass as a material well suited to
creating glass sculpture behind the torch.
At the end of 2006, she
also began assisting and observing Dean Bensen, who made glass sculpture
with traditional furnace glass. With this experience, she
began to see a convergence between the things he was teaching her
about traditional blown glass, and the techniques she utilized on a
smaller scale behind the torch. This immersion in glass, and
the ability to experience it on different levels, has given rise to
Demetra's signature, sculptural body of work.
In late 2007, she switched from glass beadmaking to lampworked
glass sculpture.
She built upon the foundation of her apprenticeship and is
self-taught in developing the techniques needed to create her nests,
flowers, and branches. While this time alone had its’
challenges and frustrations, it was ultimately highly instrumental
in pushing her to innovate as she developed her body of work.
Slowly her sketches were coming to life, as her knowledge of the
medium grew. She continues to experiment and test the
boundaries of glass, with her never-ending curiosity for this art
form.
She now operates a private flameworking studio in
San Francisco,
CA where she continues to develop her signature work, for clients
across the United States. Demetra has
received national recognition for her glass nests and botanical
flower sculptures, including the honor of being nominated as a 2010 NICHE Award Finalist. All of Demetra’s pieces are one of a kind, signed, produced solely by the
artist, and created in limited number.
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