Glass artists show wares at art center

Now through August 14, Sisters Art Works is hosting "Reride," a show of Nancy Becker and Mark Gillem's recycled, glass-and-steel, functional art.

Becker has been creating glass art for over 30 years in Southern California, Portland, and in the Sisters area. The concept for her current project came about through her frustration at throwing away bucket loads of glass leftovers from her art.

"To be wasteful with materials bothers me," said Becker. "I'd put these buckets of beautiful glass in the trash. It (throwing away waste-glass) is just a natural part of blowing glass, or sculpting with glass.

"So, my concept was to take this ... byproduct of my business, and then incorporate it into sculptural elements using steel, because when you incorporate it with steel, you can get bigger... more-more-more than just a glass object."

Gillem, who lives just a few houses away from Becker, does the steelwork and most of the welding.

"I can just show him something on paper and say 'I want it to do this and this,' and he just makes it happen," Becker said.

The steel that she and Gillem use in their sculptures ranges from rebar scraps to used steel tubing to used horse shoes - Becker is especially fond of used horse shoes.

"They've got history," she said.

Most of Becker and Gillem's work is functional as well as beautiful: architectural pieces such as gates, towel bars and bookends, in addition to flower and leaf yard ornaments.

There will be an artist's reception at Sisters Art Works, 204 W. Adams Ave., on Friday, July 18, from 4 to 7 p.m., and folks are encouraged to bring musical instruments for a jam session. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Sisters Folk Festival.