Anyone who has ever observed the process of glass blowing can understand that "mysterious" is an accurate description of the process - magical too.  For centuries glass was mass produced in factories called glasshouses.  It was not until the 1960's with the development of a new glass formula that could be melted in smaller furnaces that the contemporary glass movement began here in the United States.  From there came the birth of home studios affording hot glass artists to become the ruler of their own domain.  This freedom allowed artists to create without limitations.  The art of glass went from being exclusively functional to functional and / or sculptural.  Most functional work is created using the blowing technique.  Sculptural pieces are more often formed from solid hot masses of glass.  Either way the glass is used, the artist works with temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1400 degrees. 

          The process of creating with glass is a kind of dance in which timing and technique are intimately intertwined.  It is a "dance on  a precipice", in a sense, in which one false move means a broken piece.  Barbara Wallace is a master of this "dance".  Her glass work is an exquisite marriage of masterful technique and mystical imaginings.  Equally at home working in glass or ceramics, her work displays a use of color and design that is at times quite playful and at other times truy elegant.  She is capable of creating classical, functional glass pieces of great beauty, and then turning a corner into another realm altogether where her imaginative pieces, often influenced by themes from ancient Egypt or the Native American northwest, seem to beckon the viewer into a distant landscape of dreams.

          Originally from Michigan, Wallace received a B.F.A. from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI.  In addition she studied with Henry Halem and Stanislav Libinsky at Kent State University, and with Lino Tagliapeitra at the Pilchuk Glass School in Seattle, WA, where she was not only a star pupil but went on to become an instructor.  Barbara Wallace has also been a glass instructor at, among other locales, Corning Glass in New York and the Center for Creative Studies in Michigan.

          Reflecting on her work, Wallace says "... Because the journey through life is constant, quite often the state of flux can be turbulent.  Yet it is through the journey . . . that one continues to metamorphose into oneís true essence . . . The use of clay keeps me grounded . . . and reminds me how quickly things can and do change.  In the realm of the physical world, the use of glass helps project the relationship of strength, beauty and fragility with the soul." 

          Barbara Wallace has exhibited her work throughout the United States, most notably in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana and California, and also in Japan.  Her sculpture is found in numerous private and public collections, including the collection of the Detroit Art Institute.  Wallace currently lives in Provincetown, MA.