Artist Biography - Jeweliyana Reece

Jeweliyana was born in Germany. Her family moved to Calgary when she was small but her affinity for foreign lands and languages stayed with her. She’s visited many countries including a solo backpacking adventure through Europe in the 80’s. Along with all the art classes, she studied Spanish at night school. She started out as a geological technician in her early years but her love of people called her in to the promotional products industry where she worked until 2010 when she opened Infused Glass Works to begin her career as an artist full time. Her work has received the People’s Choice Award from Parks Canada and has been featured in prestigious events such as Art Takes Times Square, NY, USA and Ottawa’s Snow Flake Charity Ball. It’s been published in ‘Best of World Wide Glass’ and Spectrum Glass Company’s global product catalogue. She currently creates and teaches from her home studio in Calgary.

Her Story

I am a happy mad scientist at heart. Pretty sure my middle name was “How?” when I was growing up. I believe in possibilities and have learned over the years that questions are like seeds, they give birth to the answers. In school I did everything “Art”. After that, needing a way to pay rent, I did like most and entered the corporate world and continued my love affair with making art at night school and workshops. In 2010 I opened Infused Glass Works and began my artist journey fulltime. I’m inspired by nature and the world around me. Flora over fauna. Probably because I love color so much and flowers don’t bite. Some artists prefer to create in shapes leaving the details to the viewers imagination. Although I agree this is important, it’s the juicy details that make the story for me. Kinda like people, they may be appealing to look at at first but it’s their unique details that draw you in and keep your interest.
Glass fusion is the “sweet spot” between stained and blown glass. It’s cut like stained glass and then heated to molten hot temperatures like blown glass. Hours of experimentation are a big part of this craft. Each sheet of colored glass has different minerals like glaze. If one color reacts different under heat and cools faster than another, the piece will crack. It is oh sooooo worth it though because no other medium plays with light quite the same. I’m a follow my heart kinda gal and variety is the spice of life which means I had to answer the calling and add painting to my repertoire. Every new skill influences and enhances other mediums in wonderful ways. I find satisfaction in balancing the elements of a composition or designing complimentary pattern series. The intention behind each piece is to uplift and spread joy. So my art is an ever unfolding story told in glass and canvas and now in the digital world of NFT’s. I’m super excited to see where this leads and to be able to share my art with a whole new world of people. Thank you!