Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anna Boothe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Anna, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Throughout my career, I’ve worked on numerous projects that have been impactful. One of the most pivotal is the project entitled “Between Seeing and Knowing” (2012-2023), which was the result of an on-going collaboration with NYC area sculptor and long-term friend, Nancy Cohen. Even though, conceptually, the project itself was profoundly meaningful to me, it was the symbiotic relationship Nancy and I developed as tandem art-makers that is the reason I highlight this experience.

A little background: “Between Seeing and Knowing” is a large-scale installation composed of 300+ glass elements, measuring up to 13’ ht. x 80’ l, inspired by our joint interest and in response to our research into 14th-17th C. Buddhist thangka paintings – meditation scrolls that utilize Buddhist symbols in ordered compositions. Most of the glass parts were generated through a 2012 collaborative residency at The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate NY. During the 10-day residency we used the museum’s world-class facilities to make forms via numerous glass-working processes with the help of assistants skilled in techniques we didn’t master. Post-residency we worked together regularly, despite the large distance between our respective studios.

What’s been most exciting about Nancy’s and my first joint project has been how well we – two artists whose individual studio practices are quite different – work together in a fully integrated manner, in strong contrast to the more “side-by-side” collaborations we’ve each been involved in. Integrated in the sense that we shared all aspects of creation in an almost uncannily synchronized manner: 1) from developing lists of our intersecting interests related to the thangkas, from which our concepts and visual approaches evolved, 2) to each having a hand in all fabrication process steps, and 3) to making all decisions necessary enroute to the project’s completion, including promotional efforts to find exhibition venues, etc.

Ultimately, the project was exhibited in four notable spaces in the US including a Chelsea (NYC) gallery, Philadelphia arts institution and international airport, and most recently at a Wisconsin glass museum (2022-2023) which acquired the installation. The work evolved and expanded with each venue relative to the exhibition location. Each showing provided additional opportunities for outreach including offers to lecture, published documentation and reviews.

Since the completion of this project, we’ve continued to work as a team to create and exhibit new works. Currently, we are in the midst of a new endeavor, also initiated through a residency, that combines investigation into and reflection on the several hundred-year history of glassmaking in the Philadelphia/New Jersey region.

As mentioned, Nancy’s and my individual work differs both aesthetically and materially. Our combined efforts continue to result in the creation of a separate and unique body of work. Consequent to working with Nancy, my approach to my personal work has become more adventurous in many respects. Plus, the joining of our separate career experiences and networks has produced positive reverberations for each of us.

Many artists have been curious about how we work together so well. I assume some might think it’s an anomaly as most are immersed in their individual practices and aren’t used to making work co-dependently. Understandably so, I confer no judgement. I believe that our collaborative journey is a profound testament to having begun from the foundation of a good friendship – one that requires mutual respect, flexibility and good communication skills. The result has been synergistic.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I didn’t have a plan.
When I was young, I drew voraciously, albeit with crayons, and at 5 years old started
taking art lessons at the Cleveland Museum of Art. From K-12, I was always known as
“the artist.” Because I also loved academics, I thought that it would make sense to
combine my passions for art and math; so, college-bound, I applied to architecture
programs. However, my immature logic was completely inept, as I quickly realized that I
wasn’t particularly fond of the confines of structural symmetry and engineering
protocols.
Nonetheless, I landed in a state school where I took a full breadth of courses across all
departments. The importance of a strong liberal arts education had been drilled into me,
so that seemed right while I figured-out my trajectory. While there, I enrolled in a
sculpture class; I had never done much 3-D work and by the end of the semester my
professor branded me as a “born sculptor.” With that feather in my ego, I paused and
realized that he wasn’t wrong about my affinity for working volumetrically and moving
materials around in space. It quickly became evident that I should follow my art passion
which meant discarding any objective left-brained thoughts about following a more
constructive path from which I might make a decent future living. At 20, what does that
matter?
Luckily, I had parents who were willing to support what could have been perceived as
an ill-advised/short-sighted dalliance. Long story short, I took a semester off, moved to
Rhode Island because through research I became convinced that Rhode Island School
of Design was the best US art school and became determined to attend. Resettled, I
worked during the day, took an evening sculpture class, applied to the Sculpture
Program and got in!
During the 4 years between undergraduate and graduate school, I interned on an
organic vegetable farm that grew niche vegetables and edible flowers for fancy
Philadelphia restaurants. Equal to my love of making art was my affinity for baking. The
farmer’s job parried into a plumb position as the head pastry chef at a 4-star northern
Italian restaurant in Philly, which I mention because being a pastry chef became an
important vocation for years in support of artmaking, all-the-while providing a strong
creative outlet and a potential parallel trajectory to my art career.
When I was at RISD, the school’s glass program was growing in notoriety, spear-
headed by the infamous Dale Chihuly. I was intrigued, tried my hand but clearly needed
to major in that material to become proficient. In 1984, I decided to enroll in a glass-
focused graduate program; I provided an application portfolio filled with “bread”
sculpture which surprisingly they gave a nod to if I agreed to speed-learn what normally
would’ve been the skill prerequisites to enter the degree program.
No matter how accomplished one is in art school, it doesn’t necessarily translate into
future relevance, or income, in the greater world. I made my peace with that a long time
ago, which is probably why I’ve been willing to live on the proverbial edge to maintain
my practice for the past 40 years.
Post-graduate school, I still didn’t have a solid plan; but since that time have been
offered opportunities that have made all the difference in building my career. It’s been
one step at a time. Each step has provided invaluable experience and connections, all
of which have exponentially built on one another, and frankly, often when I’ve least
expected it.
Two-years after I received my MFA, I was asked to join the glass program at Tyler
School of Art, where I taught as an adjunct for 16 years (FT positions are a rarity!).
Then, in 2004, I was invited to develop a glass art program at a small community
college in southern NJ to pair with the school’s acclaimed scientific glass program. The
program I created, and consequently headed became quite successful and has grown
immensely since.
While at both schools, I frequently traveled internationally, including to Europe, Asia and
Australia, and within the US to lecture/teach at numerous universities and glass-
centered schools. From 1998-2006, I served on the Board and as President of the
largest international glass organization, the Glass Art Society.
After I stopped teaching, I was hired as the glass director at a small Philadelphia
museum where I curated glass exhibitions and was in charge of the 2nd largest glass
auction in the US.
Concurrent with my employment I always maintained an active exhibition schedule,
while also raising a child with my husband (who, fortunately for me, has been incredibly
supportive of my career).
About 10 years ago, at the age of 56, I decided to change my strategy and focus on
becoming a self-supporting full-time artist (without reliance on a job, outside resources
or spousal help). I changed the sort of sculpture I created to be more “accessible,” i.e.
smaller, more decorative pseudo-functional works. I launched a new stand-alone
business, Pate de Verity (a name which riffs on the niche glass technique I use) and
retail webstore, and began selling these works through high-end craft shows, museum
stores and galleries. As a first-time participant in the three premier US shows, I won
“Best of” awards and am now represented by approximately 17 galleries nationwide.
Additional income is garnered from a variety of commissions and short-term teaching
stints.
Parallel to this new venture, I continue my fine art-based studio practice, currently via a
long-term and ongoing collaboration with a sculptor friend with whom I do artist
residencies and large projects, the last of which was exhibited in a Chelsea gallery in
NYC, a major venue in Philadelphia, as well as at the Phila. International Airport and
then shown and acquired by Wisconsin’s Bergstrom-Mahler Museum.
I have never sought outright fame, but being successful in terms of being able to
maintain my art-making life has been the thread that has consistently compelled me to
never give up and to make life decisions with that goal in mind. Could I have sped-up
the process? Perhaps, but why would I want to get “there” quicker? It’s all about the
journey, as they say.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Without judgement, I find that there’s a core difference between people who are
primarily governed by either a logical or creative brain. That’s way too simplified a
statement; we’re all combos and as someone heavily weighted in the creative column,
often I am reliant on those with far more ordered and linear approaches to life.
I’ve found that while many non-creatives are fully appreciative of what I do, they are
equally as perplexed by the non-linear path I follow in my creative practice, not least of
which is my undying willingness to subjugate my income and forego comforts in trade
for time in my studio or purchases of supplies that may be used to create work that
never sells, or doesn’t even turn-out to my liking because I’m always trying something
new. The “suffering artist” meme has roots! All I can do to explain such seeming idiocy
is that the passion for art-making doesn’t bow to reason, no more than any sort of
passionate pursuit does. The opportunity to maintain and direct my creative life, is more
important than extreme material comforts.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2015, after having been an employee of one sort or another (professor, museum
director, pastry chef, itinerant worker of various sorts) for the previous three decades, I
realized that I would be better served as my own boss and sole navigator. All my
positions had been creative in some way, thankfully, and all served to financially support
my studio practice. Although, even if I loved and excelled at my job, I’ve never been one
to allow myself to be forced into a mold, or dictated to by others, and as a result have
moved on when I feel my creativity is constrained.
I finally understood that I’m a better boss than employee; i.e. my own boss. Thus, I had
to figure out an alternate way to make an income. The sculpture I had been making
regularly was included in exhibitions and sold, but not in a consistent manner. I needed
a different strategy and began to pursue a track that I said I never would: change my
work so that it would be more decorative and thus appealing (in my mind!) to a broader
audience. It first felt like I was compromising my “real” art, AKA: selling out. Necessity
won out and my snobbery gradually changed to understanding, as now I simply just
maintain two bodies of work.
To make this shift, I needed to determine my new audience and market my work
through different sorts of venues than I had previously. I needed to figure out how to
think like a business entrepreneur, none of which had been taught in art school! It was
scary, challenging and ultimately exciting. Since then, I’ve built on previous connections
and developed a new and expanded following for this different body of work.
Since then, sales from the business website (initiated in 2021) and approximately 17
galleries and museum stores, coupled with various commissions and periodic workshop
teaching has provided me with a livable wage. It’s always a hustle to keep on top of it all
and to develop new strategies, but it’s never boring and all worth it to be able to chart
my own course.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.annaboothe.com, www.patedeverity.com
• Instagram: @annabootheglass
• Facebook: @annabootheglass

Image Credits

Work images: Ricardo Barros
Artist images: Steve Jarrett (in-studio), Rick Echelmeyer (with glass brain)