Although surrounded all my life by a family of painters, my passion for working with glass has evolved from my earlier efforts in many other artistic media, including painting, graphic design, fabric and clay.

Working now primarily in hot-fused glass and stained glass, my pieces range from contemporary and expressionistic graphics to landscape design. Glass work allows me the flexibility to create the crisp, bold, expressive splashes of color of my contemporary pieces and the muted, naturalistic hues of my landscape forms. In all instances I strive to develop works that are both representational and strongly emotive.

Each fused-glass piece is an evolving process from a simple thought or sketch to the layering of textured glass and color to create an imagined finished piece. Then only after high-temperature kiln-firing melts and fuses the individual glass layers does a complete final image appear. The frequent unpredictability of the final heating variable often tempers or enhances the original design intent of an imagined piece, and the results regularly surprise and gratify me. I work out of my studio in Texas and am proud to say every work of art and the materials used to produce each piece is entirely made in the USA.

Leslie W. Friedman