FUSED GLASS BY NANCY BOSSE
Nancy Bosse has a bachelor’s degree in Biology but has always been interested in art.. For many years she was a wife, a homemaker, and a stay-at-home mom. Once her children were in Jr High and High School, she found herself with a little spare time and signed up to take a class in Stained Glass. She discovered she loved working with Art Glass and over the last 10 years, has expanded her skill set to include Kiln-Fired Glass. Kiln-fired glass has really won a place in her heart and now she owns 4 kilns of different sizes. These enable Nancy to create fused glass art using many different techniques. Nancy Bossé is continually amazed how a piece of Art Glass can look so different based on how it is used. Not only are there factors such as color, opacity, and transparency, but in addition, fusing glass can create colors different from the original glass due to chemical reactions taking place within the glass itself. These reactions are from the chemicals used as coloring agents. For example, when a cream-colored glass made with sulfur is heated and fused to a turquoise-colored class made with copper, the two glasses mix. Depending on how much of one color is touching or mixed with the other will determine the final reactive color and create a brown or deep green color in the glass. Nancy has taken numerous classes in glass art over the years. She has learned various techniques such as stained glass, hand beveling, vitrigraph, Verre Eglomise, combing, laminating, sandblasting, sand carving, photoresist, enameling, casting, fossil Vitra, and Raku. These are all in addition to the basic techniques of fusing, slumping, draping, and cold working. Nancy Bossé incorporates different forms of glass into her pieces such as art glass sheets, dichroic glass, frit, and powdered glass. In addition, she may also include mica as well as various metals such as copper, silver, and gold foils. Nancy also likes to let beautiful glass speak for itself by figuring out how best to showcase the color and design in a piece of art glass. She loves it when one of her glass pieces can be displayed as art but can also be used in everyday life, such as a wine rack, a bowl, or a platter. Nancy chose art glass as her creative medium because it is so versatile, beautiful, and fun.