1:00

My guest today . Nancy Dillingham-Marx

1:03

is a fused glass artist

1:05

. After a 35-year corporate

1:07

career , she took a creative leap and

1:09

found her passion in fusing glass art

1:11

. Her journey began with a

1:13

single class . Despite her initial

1:16

self-doubt about having any artistic

1:18

talent , to her surprise , she discovered

1:21

a knack for working with glass and

1:23

embraced the imperfect beauty of her creations

1:25

. She recognized a

1:27

gap in the market for unique handmade

1:30

craft and founded Glass Arts

1:32

Collective , a local

1:34

glass art studio . She serves

1:36

her passion there , enabling others

1:38

to explore glass art and witness their

1:41

creative vision take

1:43

shape . Don't miss a chance

1:45

to join her class at

1:48

Glass Arts Collective . Nancy's

1:51

background encompasses areas of human resources

1:53

, payroll , accounting , operations

1:55

, purchasing , customer service , sales

1:58

, teaching and more . She's

2:01

been able to travel to all 50 states and continues

2:03

to love traveling and learning about

2:05

other cultures . We welcome Nancy

2:07

to the podcast . Well

2:11

, it's so good to have Nancy on . How are you doing today , nancy

2:13

?

2:14

I am great , keith , excited

2:16

to be here .

2:17

Well , good , I'm glad to hear that , as opposed to oh

2:19

no .

2:23

I could have still been sleeping .

2:25

That's right . I could have been sleeping , so

2:28

I'd like to ask my guest this question what's the best

2:30

piece of advice you've ever received ?

2:34

I like this question . I've heard you ask it before

2:36

, so I have thought about it and

2:39

it is don't

2:41

get in your head too much . It's

2:43

so easy to believe

2:46

things that aren't true

2:48

because your head tells you they are .

2:51

Who told you that or where'd you hear it from ?

2:54

Actually I've heard it from several people and it's taken

2:56

me a little bit of time to kind

2:58

of get it . But

3:00

at the same time , when you hear something over

3:02

and over again , there's a message

3:05

you're supposed to be hearing and maybe you should pay

3:07

attention a little bit more .

3:09

That's a very good point . If

3:11

I hear this more than once , maybe someone's

3:13

trying to tell me something .

3:15

Yes , and I heard it more than twice yeah

3:18

.

3:21

I'm always curious . People like yourself who have

3:23

changed careers or now maybe

3:25

finding that sweet spot in their life

3:27

, who were some people that were crucial

3:29

in your journey ? And tell us a little

3:31

bit about them ? What made them so special ?

3:35

Across my career I've had lots

3:38

of changes of

3:46

changes and it's usually been somebody I'm working with that is

3:48

extremely supportive and

3:50

sees that I've got a drive

3:52

and a determination and a

3:54

work ethic and I

3:57

like helping other people . So

4:00

they saw those characteristics in

4:02

me more than I did and

4:04

they would encourage me to do

4:06

something that I thought might be outside

4:09

my reach . And the

4:11

most recent her name is

4:13

Amy and she

4:16

really supported

4:19

me when I thought about doing this . She didn't

4:21

tell me to do it , she didn't suggest I do it

4:23

, but when I decided to do

4:25

it , she was right there by my side to say

4:27

you know what ? You can do

4:29

it , you can do it . And

4:33

that has made a world of difference

4:35

. I have a very supportive husband who

4:38

was willing to take that leap

4:40

of faith with me as well , which

4:42

you know means the world

4:44

to me .

4:45

Yeah , you need those people in your life who believe in you

4:47

. Maybe , when you don't believe in yourself , to kind of get

4:49

you over the hump and maybe take that leap of faith

4:52

that you need to carry out whatever that thing

4:54

has been placed on your heart to do .

4:58

And you know , so many times you ask

5:00

friends and they all mean

5:02

well , but it's like , why would you take that

5:04

chance ? Or you know what are you thinking

5:07

? Do you really have the skills ? Have you been

5:09

doing that long enough ? I mean , what gives you

5:11

, what makes you think you can do it ? And

5:13

you know that starts to get in my

5:15

head and then I remember , get out

5:17

of your head . That's their perception

5:20

, not your own . You

5:23

knew you could do this or you wouldn't have pursued it and stick

5:26

with your own perception and not listen

5:28

to theirs .

5:29

I love it . Tell us about

5:31

your unique journey from corporate

5:33

to creative .

5:37

I started off . I came

5:39

to California and I

5:41

wanted to you wanted to be

5:44

in California . It just seemed like a great place

5:46

. I was living in Massachusetts and , even

5:50

though it's a beautiful place , there wasn't a lot for me

5:52

to do career-wise and I couldn't really

5:54

find my place yet . And

5:56

I came to California and I went to an employment

5:59

agency that some friends knew of

6:01

and they sent

6:03

me on two job interviews . One was to

6:05

be a gopher , or offered me to . One

6:07

was to be a gopher in Beverly Hills and I

6:09

was like no . I'm not going

6:11

to be a gopher , thank you very much . And

6:14

the other was for a clerk typist and

6:16

I helped teach typing in high

6:18

school and so I thought you know what I

6:21

could do that and

6:23

I went on the interview and felt very confident that

6:25

I could do it . I was actually hired

6:27

on the spot to start the next day something

6:30

that's only in a movie .

6:32

Wow .

6:34

And I knew I was here to stay , and

6:37

from there I jumped to being a receptionist

6:39

at ABC Entertainment and

6:42

then went into the personnel department

6:44

. It wasn't called HR yet and

6:47

then I needed a change . I jumped to the

6:49

motion picture division of ABC .

6:51

Wow .

6:52

And then my boss took me with him to Columbia Pictures

6:55

and I was in a

6:57

good position for a couple of

6:59

years with my boss and then he was leaving . And

7:01

at that time , if

7:08

your boss left , you were out of a job and one of the other executives referred me to a production

7:10

department and I was over there for a few years and

7:13

then they were going to be leaving . So it's kind of like

7:15

okay , I hopped over to IT

7:17

and

7:20

I went to all these different departments

7:22

with no clear

7:24

background for them . I mean , if you'd

7:26

looked at my resume I would never have been hired

7:28

. But I had determination , I

7:30

had a positive attitude and

7:33

I have a logical

7:35

thought process . So

7:38

if things don't make sense to me , I'm

7:40

not uncomfortable asking well

7:43

, why do they say you should

7:45

do this ? Who says

7:47

they are right ? And

7:51

I was there for many years

7:53

and then went to work

7:56

for Toshiba and IBM and

7:59

on and on all technology for a

8:01

long time . And then I

8:04

met my second husband . I'd

8:06

been divorced for over 13

8:08

years and I was ready to

8:10

maybe settle down again . I enjoyed being

8:13

a single parent and I

8:15

had great time with my daughter . But

8:17

he had his own technology infrastructure

8:20

company . And he said

8:22

you know , if you're

8:24

going to be selling for IBM , you should be selling for

8:26

us , driving our business

8:28

, growing our business . And

8:31

you know , part of me said oh wait a minute . I've

8:33

heard all those stories that you shouldn't work for your

8:35

spouse . You know that's not a

8:37

good thing For

8:40

us . It worked out very well . Good thing For us , it worked out

8:42

very well . He had his roles and responsibilities . I

8:44

had mine . I took over operations and

8:47

sales . To a certain degree

8:49

I was kind of the back end of sales , but I did sales

8:51

as well , because I really enjoy going out and helping

8:53

people . And

9:00

we more than doubled the business in size and it then got to the point where he

9:02

was ready to retire a few years younger , and I wasn't quite

9:04

ready to retire yet . So I

9:06

had learned about fused glass

9:08

, because my mom is at

9:11

an assisted living facility and

9:14

they were offering a class in fused glass

9:16

and I had never heard of it . But

9:19

my mom was ecstatic , she loved it , and

9:22

I am a person who grew up

9:24

thinking I did not have a creative

9:26

bone in my body . I said

9:29

that to myself for years . Why

9:34

would I say that to myself ? What proof

9:36

do I have that I really just because I can't draw a stick

9:38

figure does not mean I'm not creative

9:40

or artistic . I just had to find the right medium

9:43

. Well , I went to the class and

9:46

I said , you know , I sort of dragged my feet

9:48

. I still had this mindset I couldn't do this , but

9:50

because it's mom , she doesn't care if I

9:52

can do a good job or not . It

9:55

would be something we could do together and have fun

9:57

. And I

9:59

ended up meeting Amy and

10:02

she made it

10:04

so much fun . She

10:06

had the atmosphere , she

10:08

had the energy , she just

10:11

was . She's an amazing

10:13

supportive person

10:15

and I fell

10:17

in love hook , line and sinker in

10:20

fused glass . So

10:23

I would take classes eventually , you know

10:25

, as I could . I took my mom

10:27

over for her 85th birthday party . We

10:29

had it at the studio and her

10:32

friends came over . Mom got a bunch of little birthday

10:35

card invitations and several

10:38

people from the assisted living facility came over and

10:40

there was a class and again , everyone

10:42

had such a good time and really

10:44

enjoyed it , which just fed

10:46

my energy . And it

10:49

was like why did I ever say I didn't have a creative

10:51

bone in my body ? Oh my gosh , I

10:53

have kept myself from doing things

10:55

because I thought I couldn't because I

10:58

talked myself into believing I couldn't

11:00

. And

11:02

again , that's kind of where I kept

11:04

remembering people said don't

11:06

believe everything you've heard .

11:08

Right .

11:10

Okay . So eventually

11:13

the studio that Amy managed

11:16

was owned by someone else and

11:18

they decided to close this location . And

11:21

I went to my husband I said what am I going to do ? I

11:24

love Fuse Glass . I love doing this . He

11:26

goes well . You light up when you talk

11:29

about it . You're so excited . I

11:31

haven't seen you this excited in a very

11:33

long time . And he said you've

11:36

been running my business for years , so

11:39

you know how to run a business , open

11:42

your own . And

11:47

I was like like , oh , that sounds like a great idea . I went to Amy and

11:49

I said you know , I've learned

11:51

a lot . I know I'm not a

11:54

really advanced artist

11:56

, but I I

11:58

could bring other people in right . And she's like , yeah

12:00

, you don't have to do it all . Bing

12:02

, ding , ding , ding , I don't have to

12:05

do it all . Oh

12:07

, my gosh , she's absolutely right . And

12:10

so I pursued with

12:12

some of my friends who were more advanced than

12:14

I was and Glass

12:17

Arts Collective was born .

12:20

Wow , that's really cool . So

12:23

tell us what fused art is

12:25

.

12:27

I would love to share that . It

12:29

is taking glass . Well , let

12:31

me go back a little bit . Blown glass

12:33

is what most people know about and that is

12:35

working at 2000 degrees

12:37

in front of a hot furnace

12:40

and you need to know what you're doing at all

12:42

times . You need to keep moving

12:44

. You can't stop and say , hey

12:46

, what do you think of this ? Ha ha , look what I'm doing . There's

12:49

no time for any of that . People

12:51

know about stained glass and they think of big church windows

12:53

and that is

12:56

a beautiful art as well . So is

12:58

blown glass . I admire those artists

13:00

, always

13:05

blown glass . I admire those artists . And stained glass works in a room temperature environment

13:07

. But all of the cuts need to be precise . You're following a pattern

13:09

. They have to fit together really well . So

13:12

you learn to use a grinder very well to get

13:14

those pieces just right and then you

13:16

solder them and that

13:19

is amazing to watch . It

13:21

just wasn't what I enjoyed . Fuse

13:24

glass is taking things

13:26

at room temperature , similar tools

13:28

to stained glass for cutting and breaking the

13:30

glass , but they don't have

13:32

to be as concise . There can be

13:34

boo-boos , there can be a little odd

13:37

. Oops , didn't mean to have that

13:39

happen , but you then put

13:41

them in a kiln similar to a ceramics

13:43

kiln , and they go between 14

13:45

and 1500 degrees usually , and

13:48

at that temperature the glass fuses

13:51

together , it

13:53

goes into a really thick honey state

13:55

and it softens

13:58

. So it softens the edges of the glass

14:00

, but it also softens

14:02

those lines that didn't quite match up

14:04

as well , those little things that

14:06

stuck out . You didn't quite want to take them off

14:09

. They start to disappear or

14:12

they blend in better and

14:14

out comes , almost 18

14:16

hours later , a beautiful

14:19

piece of colorful glass

14:21

that you made yourself .

14:24

Wow , that sounds really like a lot of fun , cause I like make

14:26

. I have lots of mistakes when I do art , so it

14:28

sounds like it could be the perfect medium

14:30

for me .

14:33

Yeah , my mantra is I fell

14:35

in love with the imperfections that I create

14:37

.

14:37

Right , oh

14:41

, my word . So tell us for someone

14:43

who's maybe interested . Maybe haven't heard

14:46

about fused glass . How would

14:48

they get in ? Is it kind of

14:50

popular around the country or is it kind

14:52

of , you know , specific

14:56

to your area of the country ?

14:58

Oh no , it's popular around the world

15:00

which is what's fascinating . Just

15:02

a lot of people don't know about it . So

15:04

part of what I'm excited about is to share

15:07

with people . Check it out in your

15:09

areas , because you're going to find some pretty

15:11

amazing studios that teach

15:13

fused glass and

15:15

it is a lot of fun

15:17

. It really is . We laugh a lot , we have

15:19

a great time in this studio . I'm

15:22

in the Los Angeles area , just northwest

15:24

of LA , and I welcome

15:27

you to come here . Of course , I would

15:29

love that and tell me that you saw

15:31

me on Keith's show , but

15:34

again , not everybody's going to be in this area

15:36

. So check out the local

15:38

areas you're in and check out for

15:40

Fuse Glass in that area . But

15:42

I also have a gift shop . It's online

15:44

off my website . I have my own e-commerce

15:46

and there's 13

15:49

different artists associated with this studio

15:51

that are all selling in that

15:54

gift shop . So we ship

15:56

throughout the United States , so you can be

15:58

supporting a artist

16:00

that you're going to learn a lot about

16:02

through my little

16:05

videos online and through the

16:07

little stories that we have on the website about

16:09

those artists and see phenomenal

16:11

things . And the one caveat

16:14

is , I'll tell you , I'm not the best photographer

16:16

, so the pieces all look better in

16:18

real life than they do in the pictures .

16:20

That's good to know . I'm

16:24

curious . I looked at your story and you opened

16:26

. You know timing . I say timing is everything , especially

16:28

with business . You opened your business

16:30

five weeks after

16:33

COVID , right In the right middle of COVID . So tell me

16:35

. Right before COVID , yeah , so

16:38

tell me how that worked when you're I'm

16:41

sure , a big part of doing

16:43

this art studio is coming into the

16:45

studio and doing it . So how did

16:47

you survive COVID when you had to probably shut your

16:49

business down for what ? Two years almost ?

16:52

Well , luckily enough I have a gift shop in

16:54

the front , so I have retail .

16:56

Okay .

16:56

So when retail opened again in Southern California

16:58

, I was able to be open . I

17:00

actually called the state and I didn't fall

17:02

in a category that they could tell me when I could officially

17:05

open . So I

17:07

did the best I could with deciding how I can keep

17:10

people safe and secure

17:12

. But you know , once

17:14

again my mind went to are you crazy

17:16

? What did you just do ? You just took on a lease , you

17:18

just bought all of this equipment and

17:21

all this inventory and

17:23

I stopped after

17:25

my little bit of self-doubt

17:27

and ridiculous self-talk

17:30

and I said throughout

17:32

my life I've always said I wish I had more time

17:34

. I wish I had a few more hours in the

17:36

day . It's just I

17:38

don't have enough time to get everything done . And now

17:40

I've been gifted for the weirdest reason

17:43

time . So

17:46

I took advantage of that to

17:48

study more fused

17:50

glass art classes techniques . There's

17:53

a lot offered online as well . A

17:55

lot of people don't want to make fused glass in their homes

17:58

because they don't want shards of glass around their kids

18:00

or their pets , and I totally get that . But

18:03

I was able to come into the studio , watch

18:05

their videos and support

18:07

them , because a lot of them you pay a fee to , and I'm

18:09

more than proud and happy to do that

18:11

, because they've done an incredible job

18:13

of teaching and make

18:16

it here and I have

18:18

learned so much that I

18:20

was no longer that sort of more beginner artist

18:22

. I became a much more established

18:24

artist in that timeframe

18:27

and , as I haven't , this

18:29

is about 1700 square feet space

18:32

, so I have multiple tables

18:34

and I would separate people for

18:36

that would come in by table

18:38

and they'd have their own tools to

18:40

work with and their own glass to work

18:42

with and I'd spray everything

18:44

down with alcohol afterwards and

18:47

everybody wore their masks and

18:49

I found that people were finding

18:52

this is a sanctuary

18:54

. They were finding

18:56

it was helping them mentally to

18:59

be part of a community , even if it was a small

19:01

one like-minded people , and

19:04

they did something therapeutic . When

19:06

you start working and

19:08

I believe this in any type of art

19:10

you get focused on what you're doing

19:12

and when you're focused , sort

19:15

of the rest of the stuff in your head

19:17

goes to the back and

19:20

you're just enjoying

19:22

something for a while and

19:24

you do relax and you do find

19:26

comfort and anxiety

19:29

goes away for a while and

19:31

really dulls that variety quite a bit . I

19:34

mean variety , the anxiety

19:36

. There we go a bit , so

19:38

that was a really

19:41

incredible thing

19:43

to learn about that I probably wouldn't

19:45

have learned if it hadn't been for COVID . Yes

19:48

, covid impacted me financially and

19:51

it's now four years later , for

19:53

just for timeframe for people , and I'm still

19:56

here and I've

19:58

renewed my lease and we

20:00

are doing very well .

20:03

For someone who's thinking , oh , sounds really cool . Are

20:06

there any things as a potential

20:08

Fuse artist that I

20:10

need to have skills walking into the door

20:12

with , or can I pick this up

20:14

with a couple of classes and grow

20:16

from there ?

20:18

Oh , you can absolutely pick it up from

20:20

just coming in . All the tools are supplied

20:23

. The only thing we suggest is wear closed-toed

20:26

shoes , because sometimes some glass can fall

20:28

and safety is number one

20:30

. Talk

20:44

about all the safety features , but we teach kids seven and up , so safety can be very well managed

20:46

and even and I have to tell you even kids are better about it than adults

20:49

. Adults will get distracted easier

20:51

. The kids are focused on it , which is awesome

20:53

. But I

20:55

have some artists in the studio

20:57

that's only have been in this studio . They've

20:59

never done fused glass or

21:02

some of them had never done art before , but most

21:04

at least wasn't fused glass and

21:06

they have become phenomenal

21:09

artists because there's

21:11

so many different things you can

21:13

do . It's like pushing

21:16

the envelope of what you thought

21:18

glass was limited to . Defining

21:20

out what you can do .

21:23

Cool . What

21:25

if there's somebody out there who was like you , who goes I'm

21:28

not creative ? What would you tell the person

21:30

who tells himself I'm not creative ? I'm

21:33

not sure Fuse Art or any art

21:35

is for me , yeah .

21:38

Well , my first thing I say to people because

21:40

I get that a lot is when

21:42

you were a kid , did you enjoy art

21:44

? And most of them all say yes

21:46

, and then I'll get , but I can't

21:48

draw a stick figure and I can't color in the lines

21:51

. And I said who says

21:53

you have to be able to draw a stick

21:55

figure correctly ? I said

21:57

does anybody's body look like a

21:59

stick figure ? And

22:01

who said that's where the lines should be ? And

22:04

people just look at me and I said , oh

22:06

, I stepped outside the lines

22:08

and outside the box a long time ago

22:10

. I found

22:13

I don't live inside a box ever

22:15

in my life . I have always been outside a

22:18

box thinker . And I said

22:20

give it a chance . We have

22:22

samples that you can look at and

22:24

you can

23:19

copy us . We consider that a compliment . You

23:22

can do abstract , you can do something

23:25

very specific , it

23:27

doesn't matter . And the

23:29

colors you want to use , they're

23:31

going to go well together . You're

23:33

not going to think they will , but they do

23:35

. And I have a color chart . I never use

23:37

it , but I have a color chart . I never use it , but I have a color chart

23:40

if you want to see it .

23:43

That's so neat .

23:45

My favorite thing is that they come back and pick up their piece

23:47

a week later and they'll look

23:49

at their piece and go oh my God , this

23:52

is beautiful . I said , okay , from

23:54

today on , you can never

23:56

say you don't have a creative bone in your

23:58

body . And they just look at me and start

24:00

laughing because I actually remembered they said

24:02

it .

24:04

Right . I love

24:06

that . It seems to me like you did

24:08

this not just for

24:10

yourself , but to give back . Why is

24:12

it important for people

24:14

to give back ?

24:21

important for

24:23

people to give back . There is so much pleasure in giving back and

24:27

you know a lot of people think giving back means you have to give money and you have

24:29

to to almost do it blindly . Here

24:32

I can give back and I can see

24:34

the value that is

24:37

being produced and the value

24:39

of what people are getting out of it , and

24:41

that's tremendous . Most

24:44

people don't understand what it takes in

24:46

any form of art to

24:49

put it all together and

24:51

you know they look at things and

24:53

they go , oh gosh , that's expensive

24:55

. But you think about it and

24:59

they go , oh gosh , that's expensive , but you think about it . I mean the department stores

25:02

. They're getting stuff that is mass produced and you might be getting

25:04

piece 1,250 versus

25:06

one of a kind . Here

25:10

you can get something custom made . You can make

25:12

it with the colors that you like . You can make it the

25:14

colors your friends like , if you're going to give it as

25:16

a gift , the colors that you like . You can make it the colors your friends like

25:18

if you're going to give it as a gift . And now there's a story behind it

25:20

as well . So you

25:22

can buy a gift here

25:25

or you can make something and

25:27

that story goes to

25:29

whoever you give it to and now

25:31

, instead of just being a platter that you're

25:34

serving on for a special

25:36

dinner , it's a memory

25:38

that you share with friends who admire

25:41

that piece because they've never seen anything like it

25:43

before .

25:45

I love that . I'm curious

25:48

for you right now because you

25:50

have such an infectious personality . But

25:53

what are you excited about in this season

25:55

of your life ? But what are you excited about in this ?

25:57

season of your life . I am very

25:59

excited that in this season of my life

26:01

I can be so passionate about something

26:03

and

26:06

I can share my passion and I've got the energy

26:08

to truly enjoy

26:10

it and give it . I

26:13

love the fact that my personality is

26:15

infectious in a good way . There

26:18

were times in my life I don't think I was

26:20

as infectious in a good way , but

26:22

I apologize to anyone

26:25

that I was not as nice to as I should

26:27

have been . But come check me

26:29

out now , come find me now and let's

26:31

have another cup of coffee together or tea

26:33

in my case and

26:35

talk , because I

26:38

am a very different person and I'm very

26:40

proud of that and

26:49

I am a great inspiration to my daughter and to my friends and my friends'

26:51

kids who I adopted as well , and I feel more energetic

26:54

than I did in my 40s more

27:01

energetic than I did in my 40s .

27:02

That's really cool . Here's your chance . You get the platform for a 30-second

27:06

speech to the world . What would you like to share ?

27:10

I really think mindset is

27:12

one of the worst

27:15

things that we all have , and

27:18

it can be called different things . Perception

27:21

is , you know

27:23

, two people can hear exactly the same thing

27:25

and hear and interpret it

27:27

very differently . And in

27:29

today's world it seems like that

27:32

is one of the biggest problems we have . We

27:35

want to complain about other people , we

27:37

want to , you know , point

27:39

out things that other people do wrong , but

27:42

we don't want to be

27:45

happy about what we do have . We don't

27:47

want to be happy and try to drive

27:49

goodness , and that's

27:51

all , to me , a mindset and

27:53

perception thing . And

27:55

just because I

27:59

can do this better than you can , so

28:01

what ? There are so many

28:03

things that you can do better than I can , and

28:06

you don't judge me for that . And

28:09

since I have 30 seconds , I'll do this last one . When I

28:11

was a kid , I would go to a friend's house and

28:13

say , can you play ? And they would say

28:16

no , not today . I didn't take

28:18

offense to that . I never

28:20

thought my friend didn't like me . I just went to the

28:22

next friend's house . Today it's

28:25

so different . People

28:27

are so frustrated if you don't respond

28:29

to a text or an email

28:31

fast enough . I mean it's

28:34

a perception that just has changed

28:36

in the world and that's sad . That

28:39

part is sad , you're right about that .

28:41

I think that's

28:43

one thing , I think that social media

28:45

and the like button has done for

28:47

us . We need to have the instant gratification

28:49

for everything we do . Please like my picture , please

28:52

like my vacation , please like this . And

28:54

why don't you like me ? You

28:56

know so , yes , I agree .

29:00

And I don't need to see every single meal you're

29:02

trying .

29:06

I get you .

29:09

But if you want to show me the art you're making

29:12

, I'll look at it every day , all

29:14

day long .

29:15

Do you have a piece of art you can show us on for those

29:17

who are on the video ? I'm just curious for those

29:19

who haven't seen fused art .

29:22

Well , you know what there's ? Well , first off

29:24

, let me show you something in stained glass , because we

29:26

do offer stained glass classes here too and

29:28

one of my artists this was not made by me .

29:31

That's beautiful .

29:32

Made this beautiful piece , and

29:39

what's really cool about it is there are fused glass pieces incorporated , oh wow . So she has fused

29:41

some of the pieces to get the color she wanted in the shapes

29:43

and incorporated it into

29:45

her stained glass piece .

29:47

Wow , that's really pretty .

29:49

And then , oh , where do we have something ? Oh

29:52

, here's a fun piece . Hold on , sorry . This

29:57

is a fun piece I just made recently .

29:59

That is beautiful For those who are hearing

30:02

this . You have to go to the video and see this piece

30:04

.

30:06

I have to tell you , yes , video podcasts

30:09

are the best , but

30:13

I like the idea that things can

30:15

be three-dimensional .

30:16

Oh , I like that yeah .

30:20

But yeah , I just I saw

30:22

things and said this is

30:24

what I want to make out of this piece . So I don't

30:26

always start everything with an idea

30:28

. I'm

30:31

really okay to say you know what

30:34

I wanted to do something , but I don't know what

30:36

. So let me look around . What

30:40

do I feel like ? Okay , I'll start

30:42

, and you know what , sometimes it changes after

30:45

I get started .

30:49

And that's okay too . That's how my writing is . I

30:51

may have one idea when I start writing is something else when I get

30:53

done with whatever piece I

30:55

was writing .

30:57

Well , you know , writing is an art as well . I

30:59

mean , you get probably

31:01

a tremendous amount of satisfaction from

31:03

writing , don't you ?

31:04

I do .

31:06

And do you write every day ?

31:09

I try to . I've slowed

31:11

that down because I was working on a dissertation , but

31:14

I used to write every morning for 15 minutes , just

31:16

to see what happened .

31:18

And it's huge . And they talk

31:20

about journaling as a way

31:23

of mental health as well , to

31:25

just sort of get your thoughts down on paper and

31:27

release things . But writing

31:30

is an art that I find fascinating

31:32

and I'm not comfortable with it . My husband

31:35

just wrote his second book . He

31:37

started on his third , and I

31:39

so admire you because you can do

31:41

that . Does it make me feel bad that I can't

31:44

? No , but I can admire

31:46

you for being able to .

31:47

Right . The one bad

31:49

thing about writing is that usually the ideas

31:51

come at four o'clock in the morning and

31:53

you want to go back to bed . It's like , oh , I can't

31:55

have to get up . So you have to get up at 5

31:57

o'clock and write because the idea is right there .

32:01

I do know that that actually happens with

32:03

art as well , does it the

32:06

idea of what we'd like to do or the design

32:08

. The nice thing is a lot of times we

32:10

can just scribble it out and you can't really

32:13

see it very well at 4 o'clock

32:15

in the morning when you scribbled , but you get

32:17

enough of the idea of what you were thinking about at that time

32:19

that

32:21

you can go back to sleep easier .

32:23

There you go .

32:28

I have to try that because the four o'clock in the

32:30

morning , getting up to write is really annoying . Well , try using the record

32:32

button on your phone .

32:32

That's a good idea .

32:35

I have to try that . Like

32:37

I said , I'm outside the box thinker . You

32:45

got to like that . So , nancy , what do you want your legacy

32:48

in the world to be ? Oh , that's a great question . You know

32:50

, I've thought about that and I always build a legacy that's much

32:52

bigger than will ever

32:54

happen . But I like the idea

32:56

of making a

32:59

difference somehow , even

33:01

if it's a small difference , in someone's life

33:03

, and just the fact that even

33:06

in the small space that I'm in now , I

33:08

have made a difference in people's lives

33:11

and the art that

33:13

they're creating now that they didn't know

33:15

how to do before . That

33:17

truly came from them I mean , it truly

33:20

did but I had a little something to do with

33:22

it and I am so

33:24

proud of that and honored to have

33:26

been able to do that for someone .

33:28

That is amazing . Anything I

33:30

haven't asked you that I should have asked you .

33:34

Well , I appreciate you not asking how old I really am . Well

33:36

, I appreciate you not asking how old I really

33:39

am , but no , I just . I

33:42

think we have done a very good job

33:44

of covering the topics .

33:46

Well , thank you . So

33:53

where can ?

33:53

people learn more about you and where can they buy your art if they want

33:55

to partake in some of that wonderful pieces you just showed me At

34:02

my website , glassartswithanscollectivecom . The gift shop is there

34:05

. It has the link to my Instagram , my Facebook , the LinkedIn and

34:07

the YouTube channel . So

34:09

there is our videos all over

34:11

the place . There's food questions

34:13

like is it food safe ? Most of the glass is

34:15

, um , you know , is

34:17

it dishwasher safe ? Well , it kind of depends on

34:19

how hard your water is in your area . Um

34:22

, so it's , it's

34:24

. There's so many questions that you can ask

34:26

and I've tried to capture them , but

34:28

if I've missed a question , you have send

34:31

me a note at info at glass

34:33

arts collectivecom and I'll be happy

34:35

to answer it If I know . And if I don't

34:37

, I'll let you know that too .

34:39

So here's one closing question for you . If

34:41

someone has in their mind

34:43

a concept of something

34:45

they like design , can they also

34:47

write to say I have this picture

34:49

in my mind of a piece of art that I want . Can

34:52

you help me turn it into fused

34:54

art ? Turn it into fused art

34:56

.

34:56

I will respond with my favorite answer

34:59

. There's 13 artists in here

35:01

. One of us probably can oh

35:03

cool . Each has different techniques and styles

35:05

and we all

35:08

share . We know who has the strengths

35:10

. So

35:12

no one person ever tries to take all the commission options and do it themselves

35:15

. We give it to the right person

35:17

to give you the best possible end

35:20

product .

35:21

Well . Thank you , Nancy . This was such a great conversation

35:24

. Blessings on the work you do and keep

35:27

passing that infectious spirit of yours

35:29

around to people and inspire them to

35:31

dig in and find their creative

35:34

self , to do something that leaves a lasting

35:36

legacy through their art in

35:38

the world .

35:40

Thank you , and thank you for having

35:43

me on your show . I've loved your other

35:45

guests so I feel very honored

35:47

to be included .

35:49

It's an honor to have you on .