About the Artist
Patricia Reynolds Dugmore
I was raised and still live in a small town in Connecticut. I have been a lampwork
beadmaker since 2003 and it has been my passion and obsession since the day I
discovered this art form. Ordinary things that I observe in my day to day life now have new
meaning as my “bead brain” takes over and starts to translate the object into a bead.
The first time I lit the torch, I knew I had finally found “IT”. I came home from the three
day workshop and ordered everything I needed to set up my own studio in the garage. Ever
since that day, I still eat, sleep, daydream, and breathe for glass. Everything I see
translates into a potential bead. The kitchen is something I pass through on the way to my
studio and time has no meaning when I’m working with the flame. Hours seem like minutes.
Occasionally, my family sticks their head out the door to see if I’m alive, passed out or still
making beads. If they don’t hear a growl, they may even venture out into my studio to chat.
Without the support and encouragement of my family and close friends, I wouldn't be able
to do this. Thank you all for helping to make my dreams come true.
I have taken classes from many patient, talented, and generous glass bead artists, who
have reinvented an art that was almost lost to the world. Each of these teachers was chosen
because of a skill or style that I wanted learn and try to master, to help find “my own voice”
in lampworking. I feel very grateful that I am part of the lampworking movement because
life does not usually offer opportunities to be part of a reincarnation of something old that
has been reborn. The journey and discovery of glass is just as exciting today as it was on
the day I took my first class.
Quite simply, by a touch of fate, I have found “it”. Every morning is Christmas when I'm
beading, and I can't wait to hop out of bed and look at my beads from the night before ...
they are waiting for me in my kiln. I am captivated by the fire and glass. I know this is
going be a long love story that will bring a lifetime of happiness and fulfillment.
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