Jennifer Daggs, Jewelry Artist

Biography

Growing up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, I spent a great deal of time near, on, and in the water. My favorite thing to do is to walk along the beach, especially the beaches on Assateague Island. It recharges my creative energies and provides inspirations for my work as I ponder the ever-changing environment that surrounds me.

My attraction to glass comes naturally from my love of water. I’ve always been enthralled by the watery, undulating patterns in opaque glass and iridized glass. Their shimmering colors inspired the patterns I made when I marbled paper, one of my first forays into expressive art. The man who would become my husband in 1993, Steve, encouraged me to broaden my talents by applying them to glass.

Glass is such an incredible medium – made from heated sand, it’s never truly a solid. If you gaze into the windows of an older home, you can see the ripples in the ancient panes. It looks like it’s still moving – like the surface of a river being tickled by a barely perceptible breeze. Today, I approach cutting glass much like I cut paper for paper sculptures I used to make – with gleeful abandon! I make many of my pieces, like my goldfish, without a pattern. I just start cutting away the parts that don’t look like a fish.