We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jen Violette. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jen below.

Hi Jen, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I first began working with molten glass at Alfred University in 1991 at age 18, and have been working with molten glass for the past 33 years. I received my BFA with honors in glass and metal sculpture from Alfred University School of Art and Design in 1994. I have also studied at the Pilchuck Glass School, The Corning Museum of Glass, Rhode Island School of Design, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Penland School of Crafts. I have been very fortunate to study with some of the best maestros in the world, including Lino Tagliapietra, William Morris, Pino Signoretto, Dante Marioni, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, Martin Janecky, Richard Marquis, Randy Walker, Kait Rhoads, Stephen Dee Edwards and Fred Tschida.

All of my mentors have taught me so much when it comes to honing my glass skills, talent, lifestyle, and how to show my glass artwork in top notch galleries. I also worked in several production glassblowing studios in the years following college, and those artists, Ed Branson, Bob Dane & Stephen Fellerman taught me a lot of the ins and outs of running a successful glass studio and making a living as a glass artist. I learned everything from making multiples of certain glass designs in glass that all matched, to the packing and shipping of the work, to how to sell my work in galleries. I began creating my own production design line in 1996, and started doing some small scale production of my own glass designs. I exhibited my whimsical, colorful production glass work at the ACC wholesale Craft Shows from the late 90’s to early 2000’s, and then started showing my production glass work in quite a number of different art galleries across the country. I made a decent living doing this work full time.

In 2003, I took a life changing advanced glass sculpting class at Pilchuck Glass School with William Morris, Karen Willenbrink Johnson & Randy Walker. It was an incredible class, focused mainly on sculpting molten glass and powdered glass color application. I learned so much and it had such a positive impact on me, that from then on out, I decided I wanted to take my work to the next level and focus on making higher end glass sculpture that was more limited edition and one of a kind, and focus less on wholesale production glass.

Over the years, inspired by my passion for gardening, and living in rural Vermont, I created numerous, unique glass sculptures combining glass, metal and wood, and began showing them in high end glass art galleries and online. I first started showing them in some of the galleries who had previously shown my production glass, and that was a good start. These newer sculptural pieces were pretty successful and kept me quite busy. I also created several high end commissions for clients during this time.

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?

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Going back several years, I was initially pretty against having a social media presence. I really didn’t want to be on Facebook and Instagram. A successful glass colleague of mine convinced me that I needed to be on Facebook for my business and then convinced me to join Instagram shortly thereafter. Honestly, it has been a very helpful tool in growing exposure for my work and for myself as an artist. It has lead to thousands of new followers and multiple private commissions and several museum and gallery exhibits.

I always like to use a lot of hashtags relevant to what I’m sharing when I create a post. I think it really helps cast a wider net to a larger audience. The algorithms have been a little tricky on social media lately, and can sometimes be problematic with getting new people to find your page, but all in all, I’m happy to have a social media presence.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, I love being an artist. I see art in everyday life, and it inspires me to create. I love having the freedom to create something out of nothing. Whether it’s a simple sketch of a future piece, a blown glass sculpture, a wood base for a mixed-media piece, a metal component or a landscape painting. I can’t think of any career I would rather be doing. I love being able to make a living and support my family doing what I love to do every day of my life. I am thankful to my collectors and galleries for making that possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jenviolette.com
• Instagram: @jenvioletteglass
• Facebook: Jen Violette Glass or Jennifer Violette
• Youtube: Jen Violette Glass

Image Credits
John Polak, Jen Violette,