(Glass art by Cheryl Chapman)

Dominated by color and whimsy, Cheryl Chapman’s glass art is a sight to behold. Inspired by the central Oregon landscape, local birds and animals, her artwork offers a fun look at the world around us.

Her beginnings in the glass world started with stained glass in the very early 1990’s. Making custom windows for residences in southern California, she fell in love with the hands-on work of designing pieces, cutting glass and assembling leaded windows that would last for many years and bring a smile to her clients. Slowly, she began transitioning to firing glass in a kiln. Sometimes incorporating kiln-fired pieces into stained glass windows, but more often creating fused glass bowls and other functional works.

Upon joining an artist’s group in the Lake Arrowhead, California area in 2006 Chapman began experimenting with painting on glass using high fire enamels. She was inspired by images created using woodcut and linocut techniques. Many people seeing her work for the first time compare the style to these techniques. You can clearly see how the bold black lines, textures and dark shading mimic printmaking. However, she employs techniques of traditional glass painting, such as the “grisaille” technique of creating shadowing and texture with black enamel and combines it with opaque high-fire glass enamels for color. She starts by painting her original drawings that are embellished with a bit of whimsy directly onto glass. Then comes the firing process, which can take as many as six turns of painting and firing in the kiln to produce the final piece.

Chapman now enjoys the central Oregon life with her husband and two dogs from their home in La Pine, just minutes from La Pine State Park where they frequently take walks around the river trails. She is inspired by the forest, rivers and animals frequently found in the park. Just this summer she saw deer, an owl and a large family of otters playing in the river. I’m certain we will see some of these come alive in glass enamel very soon.

You can find Chapman’s glass art locally at the Artists’ Gallery in Sunriver, Playful Paws Cat Café in Bend and Makin’ It Local in Sisters. She also shows work in Seattle at Seattle Glassblowing Studio and Schack Art Center in Everett, Washington and is coming soon to Art on First in Ashland, Oregon.

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