My Story

Hi there!

My name is Vivien (Yes! With an “e” 😊). I’m so happy you stopped in for a visit at Glass Hart Studio. It can get lonely being an artist sometimes, so I love a little company.

My love of glass spans many years. In glass form I celebrate the slow processes of nature, freezing in time glimpses of earth and its rhythms through the elements of air, fire and water. This may happen through the

• play of light and shadow

• time’s passage, or perhaps

• the moment after a stone strikes still water

Collectively these moments express earth’s rhythms and inspire my work every day.

Process:

I use sheet glass and glass powders to create my work. I cut, sift, fuse, cast, kiln-carve, create a design and fire each piece in a kiln at temperatures between 1170F-1500F. Most pieces are fired multiple times. Finally, the pieces are often sandblasted and/or polished.

You could describe my work as minimalist in nature, while the processes themselves are anything but minimal. The “Every Drop Counts” bowl for example is fired five times using sheet glass and small chips of glass called “frit”. My sculptural glass bowls speak to the peace, reverence, and gratitude we may feel when we have the opportunity to take in the magnificence of an ocean view.

Lately the world has felt chaotic and a bit unfriendly! Would you agree? In my work of late, I have been fascinated with circles. Circles represent unity. I think it is a reflection of what we need more of in the world today. I sift circles for both my wall art pieces as well as my coaster sets. You can find these as well as my bowls in my shop. If you want to follow my artistic journey, I would love your company! You can find me on instagram here @vivienhart, follow my blog here on my website or soon find me on pinterest. If you decide to sign up for my newsletter email list you can follow my journey and be the first to learn about upcoming events or collection releases.

History:

Some of my earliest memories of art making include the creation of large families of acorn people made from sticks, acorns, shells and cloth. But my greatest passion was spending hours picking off sheets of transparent mica from a large boulder at the edge of the woods. This is where I first developed a passion for translucent material.

I earned a BA in psychology, from University of Rochester and went on to receive an MSW in social welfare at UC Berkeley. I worked in the field of early childhood development, married, and had two children. While raising my children, I returned to my earlier love of translucent material and started taking classes at Studio One in Oakland. It was an immediate love affair. We built a studio in our garage and I traveled around the country to develop my skills by working with renowned glass artists. Back in the studio, I explored these techniques further and developed my own artistic vision.

Initially, my focus was on functional home accents, such as knobs, pulls, tiles, sinks and functional home decor. In 2019 we moved to Lafayette, CA where we completed construction of a dedicated home studio. This change offered an opportunity to reevaluate and refocus the direction of my work. My most recent work in fused and cast glass is focused on sculptural art as well as fine art for the wall. Strongly influenced by nature and the minimalist aesthetic of my Norwegian heritage, my work also invokes my admiration for the brushstrokes used in Japanese art forms. Inspired by images of the textures, lines and colors of the landmasses around us I use a collage of labor-intensive and time-consuming techniques incorporating sifted powders, cut sheet glass, kiln carving and glass etching to fuse or cast pieces into a unified whole.

Thanks for reading and stopping in to enjoy my work!

Vivien