Lavae Alrich - Biography

Biography

Lavae Aldrich, raised on a farm in Oregon, started creating glass art after a 30-year career in architecture. She graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon in 1978. Her career included designing houses and housing, mostly in Seattle. She began kiln-forming glass in 2006 when she retired, retooled, and relocated to Costa Rica. With fusible glass she carried in her luggage and a kiln bought locally, she began learning to fuse glass, mostly on her own. She relied on Facebook chatrooms, a couple of seminars with generous teachers, and a lot of investigation and mistakes. Because fusible glass was hard to come by in Costa Rica, she did a lot of experimentation with window glass and bottle glass.

After 16 years living and working in the tropics, Aldrich relocated to the high desert of New Mexico. Since 2022, working out of her studio in Los Lunas, New Mexico, her work has become inspired by the arid landscape, the big sky, and the multi-cultural customs and traditions of this part of the West. Still, her art is always informed by her years as a practicing architect. Her love for building things is engaged through the process of kiln forming glass. Aldrich most enjoys the wealth of technical possibilities for making art with glass, constantly exploring the tools, materials, and processes. With art driven by the medium itself, she uses layered light, dimensional textures, heat and gravity in ways that cannot be achieved with paint. She shares with others this wonderful medium, teaching classes out of her studio in Los Lunas and other venues in the region.

Artist Statement

I try to learn something new each time the kiln is fired. In my search for a clear voice, I have clearly found my obsession. And that obsession is exploration of the multitude of methods for kiln-forming glass. In the past 20 years, I have tried a plethora of techniques. I have painted glass with enamels and dry glass frit. I have “dropped” bowls. I have “heat-grouted” mosaics. I have used copper inclusions, especially with window glass. I have dabbled in glass jewelry and explored colorful reactions between metals and glass. Currently, I am investigating glass casting, a technique which is represented in many of the pieces in this show.

For “The Art of Healing”, I have chosen to explore and exhibit hearts in all the techniques I have used in the past to kiln-form glass. In this collection I am presenting cast hearts, hearts made of cast flowers, hearts “painted” with glass frits and powders, winged Milagros, and glass mosaics.