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Artist Statement
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Artist Bio:
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 fascinated by this art form however she 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, through a
short lampworking apprenticeship. In doing so, she was
introduced to borosilicate glass as a material well suited to
creating glass sculpture behind the torch.
She also began assisting and observing another artist, Dean Bensen,
who made glass sculpture with traditional furnace glass. In
doing so, 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 her focus from glass beadmaking to
lampworked glass sculpture.
She built upon her foundation in glass, 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. This ability to
innovate behind the torch, has been primarily driven by her
experience in furnace glass and other disciplines in this medium.
In 2010 she was juried into the prestigious Higuchi class at
Corning, learning the ancient technique of Pate de Verre.
She has since pioneered an approach for casting pate de verre
components and attaching them to flameworked sculpture.
In addition, she took two classes with Michael Janis on bas
relief casting and the sgraffito technique.
She was a 2010 NICHE Award Finalist, a 2010 GLANC Award
Scholarship recipient, and was featured on the cover of the FLOW
Magazine’s 2010 Women in Glass
issue. She has exhibited
nationally, including at the S.F. Museum of Craft + Design, and will
be a Professional Artist in Residence at Pilchuck in August 2011.
This educational background is now reflected in her work,
which is no longer just flameworking, but encorporates other
materials and disciplines in glass as well.
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. Demetra
has received national recognition for her glass nest and flora
sculptures, and is included in many private collections. She
has been an instructor
at Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose, as well as Public Glass in
San Francisco. 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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