Meet Evelyn Gottschall Baker | Kiln-Formed Glass Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evelyn Gottschall Baker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evelyn, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
A work-life balance is something I’ve struggled with my entire professional life: first as a test engineer for government contracts, then as a small business owner, and now as a professional glass artist. I have always thrown myself into the task at hand, often at the expense of relationships with family and friends. While I’ve made sure to take vacations and holidays, as well as to exercise to maintain my health, I’ve still invested most of my time in my work. Perhaps I’ve been fortunate to always have jobs that I love, rather than jobs that were merely a means to support and contribute to my family life. As I near retirement, I find this balance foremost on my mind. I absolutely love what I do as a glass artist and teacher. Once I make it into my studio in the morning, it’s hard to leave. This past year, I was selected to be a featured artist in an international magazine article and wanted to use that opportunity to create new work. The result was that I spent many long (12-16 hour) days in my studio and was often stressed as failure after failure revealed itself each time I opened the kiln. Once the material was submitted, I purposely took time away from my studio, having become burned out from the pressure I’d put on myself to create new and innovative art. After a couple of months of spending less time in my studio, I’m finding renewed enthusiasm to experiment and create new work that I will be able to share with other glass artists.
At the end of this year (2024), my husband, Keith, will retire, and we will move into a new phase of our lives with much more time to focus on ourselves and our health. While I have no intention of fully retiring, I know separately and together we will spend more time hiking, biking, and exploring the area we live in. One benefit of teaching classes is the opportunity to travel and explore the areas where I will be teaching. Instead of getting on a plane to teach a workshop in a distant location and then returning home, the plan is to take road trips together when possible and explore the country along the way.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In 2017, I accidentally developed a new form of Páte de Verre that changed my life. I say “accidentally” because I was randomly experimenting with glass paste. I call this process “Non-Traditional Pâte de Verre” because unlike traditional Pâte de Verre, which uses molds to contain glass particles during the firing process, my non-traditional method allows me to shape and refine glass objects and fire them without the use of molds. In 2018, I entered an international competition sponsored by Bullseye Glass Company, and was honored to receive an Honorable Mention for my work “Bones-Group”. This work is now permanently located at the Stourbridge Glass Museum, Stourbridge, UK.

In the ensuing years, I’ve been able to teach my process at numerous glass studios in the US, UK, and Canada, as well as through online classes through Bullseye Glass Co and Warm Glass UK.

The work “Balance” received the award of “Highly Commendable” from The Glass Prize, an international competition sponsored by Warm Glass UK.

I am one of 23 featured artists in the book “Pâte de Verre: The Material of Time” authored by Max Stewart and Tone Orvik and published in 2022.

Has it been easy? No. I spend most of my time experimenting, testing, and pushing the limits of what glass can do using this process. Often my experiments fail, which allows me to close that door and pursue another. The most recent example is the work “Bloodlines” that includes two large poppy blossoms; it took me 10 months of experimenting before I was successfully able to create the large blossoms. The technical challenges that are inherent in this process are shrinkage of approximately 15%, and the inability to use traditional investment molds which requires me to find alternative methods to support the work while it is fired.

When failures happen, I simply refuse to give up; it nags at me to find a solution and to successfully create new work using the new process(es). I have a number of close friends who are glass artists with science backgrounds whom I can confide in and who help me think through the challenges.

At this point in my life, I’m more interested in continuing the refinement of the Non-Traditional Pâte de Verre than I am in creating an abundance of new work. And I want to continue to teach and share this process with other glass artists throughout the world. I wouldn’t be where I am without the knowledge and contributions of those who came before me. In turn, I feel an obligation to pass all of that on so the process can continue to inspire other glass artists long after I am gone.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Living in the heart of Colorado, with eleven 14ers at our door step, it’s easy to say I’d show our guests as much of the outdoors at possible. If they are in good shape and want to hike, I’d start with hikes across the Arkansas River in Buena Vista and expand to more rigorous hikes on the Continental Divide Trail, the Colorado Trail, and up any of the local 14ers they want to try. A must-do drive includes a ride to the top of Cottonwood Pass or Independence Pass, and weather permitting, we would hike from the top. Another favorite location is St Elmo, a local “ghost town” and will make sure we have sunflower seeds to treat the local chipmunks. Other favorite places include Clear Creek Reservoir, Twin Lakes with a hike to the old Interlocken Hotel, and the Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville.

Our favorite places in town are walking Main Street to visit the various shops and eating establishments like Simple Eatery, Crave, The Roastery, and the Eddyline.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Most important is my husband, Keith Baker. At this stage of our lives, we are both independent but supportive of each other and can focus on our careers. Keith is always willing to attend events with me; he shares and promotes my work on social media; and he gives me the latitude to work as much as I need to meet my goals and deadlines.

In the glass world, Chris Jeffree and Stephen Richard help me understand the science behind glass, which allows me to expand my knowledge and pass it on to other artists.

Ted Sawyer and his staff at Bullseye Glass Company (Portland, OR) recognized the uniqueness of my work and invited me to teach for them.

Chloe Monks and the staff at Warm Glass UK encouraged me to develop a tutorial on how to make glass leaves and incorporate them into other glass art. Warm Glass UK sells this tutorial.

Max Stewart and Tone Orvik, authors of the book “Pâte de Verre: The Material of Time,” invited me to be one of the featured artists.

Website: GlassFractions.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evelyngottschallbaker/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evelyngottschallbaker

Image Credits
All professional photos of my artwork were taken by Sarah Stringer, Buena Vista, CO