Cheryl Sattler tried, and discarded, many expressive media before glass found her in 1999. As the daughter of a mother raised during the Great Depression, Cheryl has been heavily influenced by both her mother’s and her maternal grandmother’s creativity, ingenuity and, perhaps most important, the idea of “making do with what you have.” Cheryl views glass as the ultimate recyclable material, and has been known to hang onto miniscule pieces of glass for years until they find a home in the perfect composition. She also values the flexibility to work and rework glass elements both in and out of the kiln.

Her work draws on a long tradition of textile arts and processes, from the random but comforting crazy quilts her grandmother stitched together from odds and ends, to the rhythm of more contemporary basketry and weaving. Cheryl focuses much more on the product of her work than the process. Rather than specializing in a single kiln-forming technique, Cheryl has mastered a wide technical palette and draws on this repertoire to realize each specific piece.

Cheryl was raised in Florida and, after spending almost 14 years in Maryland, returned to her home state in 2006 where she can almost always be found dreaming of water.

Artist's Statement

My work captures the nuance of a shifting landscape of color, light, and shadow. In one light, elements blend together, while in a different light they pull apart. From the constantly changing lattice formed by sunshine filtered through a leafy canopy to the mystery of the sea, my work is both static and in motion, all at once. I work in glass because it both holds and reflects light, and light is an integral part of how I see the world. I crush, bend, twist, melt, pour, and otherwise manipulate glass to reflect the complexity of the world around me.

I use a multiple-step firing and design process. Starting with an idea or concept, I design a number of different assemblages of glasswork composed of cut sheet glass, frits and powders, each of which is fired separately. I then cut the pieces using a tile or diamond saw, sandblast the cut pieces, rearrange them and create an entirely new piece of glass that is then re-fired. I also create fluid glass line elements through a vitrigraph kiln, in which glass is extruded and can be manipulated while still red-hot, and when cool are added to the piece in progress. Often I repeat this process three or more times, layering up glass to eventually create a large (16 x 20 is typical), 3/8-inch thick slab of intricately woven glass expressive of the original idea, incorporating not only glass but also enamels, lusters, paints and precious metal leaf. Pieces are polished using a wet-belt sander, fired again for a “fire polish,” and displayed either in metal stands or in ceiling-hung aluminum and steel supports.