Pursuing a Dream ~ Glass Classes at Corning

I am an autistic artist who is both mentally and physically disabled and though my past has much abuse, depression, anxiety and loneliness glass art has been a bright spot in my life that has helped me through the past several years and more recently given me the opportunity to focus on learning more, look to future possibilities with my art, meet amazing people and feel like I am part of an encouraging, supportive community of people who all have a passion for glass art like I do. I am working now to raise money for tuition for several weeks of intensive classes from amazing glass artist at Corning Museum of Glass Studio in New York. These classes will not only grow my skills and confidence as an artist but give me the opportunity to be in a supportive environment with others as I learn. All of the money I am raising here is to go directly towards tuition to pay for the classes. Someone has graciously loaned me what I still need to pay the school and secure my spot in these classes. I have until June 15th to finish raising the tuition money. If you are able please consider helping me learn, connect with others and continue to grown as an artist and a person. 

How I found Glass Art and how it has changed my life:
In 2012 my life was shattered and everything I knew changed. Prior to this I had spend all my adult life in an abusive relationship just trying to make it day to day but it was all I knew at the time. 2012 left me completely in the unknown struggling to find myself, my purpose and how to understand and cope with my disabilities as I began my life alone. 2012-2014 brought so much change, upheaval and depression that it left me unsure what to even do next. I felt lost, alone and completely without direction. I began taking some art classes in order to get out of my own head and that resulted in me taking classes in stained and fused glass. I fell in love with glass as a medium and after working with fused glass for a while I tried flameworking and glass blowing with a torch. I loved working with the glass and the torch and the creative possibilities it offered. I set up a home studio to work in and throughout 2015 and into 2017 I experimented with the torch making glass implosion pendants, small blown ornaments and vessels and exploring as many techniques as I could. In October of 2017 I was hospitalized for a week due to a still undiagnosed gastrointestinal issue and underwent testing in the months following. Shortly after that in January of 2018 I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease and began treatment for that which made me very sick for the next 5-6 months. During this time I stopped doing all my art including glass and my depression and anxiety began spiraling. This past fall I decided to try to take control of my life and pursue my dreams again. I had the amazing opportunity, due to the generosity of others, during the winter to spend two weeks at Corning taking classes from amazing glass artist and I learned so much, connected to an amazing group of people and grew a great deal as an artist and a person through the experience.  (Below you can see pictures of some of the items I made during those classes) I applied for classes during the upcoming summer session at Corning and have been confirmed in classes that I would like to pursue taking.  I am working now to raise the money I need to pay the tuition for the classes. I have opted out of room & board this time due to the fact that adding that to tuition as well would put this goal way out of reach so I am just trying to raise what I need for tuition at this time and will hopefully be able to find somewhere to stay when the time comes. I have to pay my tuition in full to Corning by May 1st in order to take these classes so I only have a month to raise what I need for the tuition. If raised this will give me the opportunity to spend a month at Corning learning many different techniques from different artist that I can practice and build upon.  My dream is to continue to learn new techniques and connect all the things I am learning to form my voice through my art. I also want to continue to learn so I can make art to share with others any teach others the art I love so much. I named my glass art Infinitely Fearless Designs several years ago when I set up my website, Facebook and started doing fairs and I want to embrace that again and set aside my thoughts and fears and go into this new chapter in my life Fearlessly. I hope that in someway you will be able to partner with me in this as I make these steps. I truly appreciate everyones support in helping me begin a new life with a new focus as I set out to fearlessly embrace my art and my future.