Demetra   

Glass

 

 

 
 

 

 
                

 

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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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