Laurie Spieker welcomes the world to her doorstep at Grand River Glassworks. She creates fresh and imaginative contemporary glass art and shares the inspiring beauty of art glass with her community through workshops offered at her Waterloo, Ontario studio and retail store, a leading promoter of glass art in Waterloo Region and beyond. Her work is at UpTown Gallery, The Gallery Shop at The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, and at King Street Gallery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Laurie was the Artist Mentor for Glass Fourteen, a large-scale Public Youth Art Project, was one of nine Ontario artists chosen to take part in the first FUSION Glass mentorship program at Sheridan College, and was the 2015 Artist in Residence at The Schneider Haus in Kitchener. In 2016 Under These Skies, a selection of poems from Rienzi Crusz and images of Laurie’s stained glass, was published by Stonegarden Studios, a not-for-profit press which links visual art with text. Laurie is a University of Waterloo graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Honours English. Laurie feels that education is “Key” to opportunities in life and continues as a life-long learner. Reaching out to new audiences in innovative ways is her key signature.

Artist Statement:

A woodlot in small town Ontario sparked my love for trees, plants, and life in all its woodsy forms. When I step on a path, I seek the unnoticed and draw close to examine the graphic grace before me. My observations of nature and the world around me reflect in my glass art. I interpret my views through sheets of art glass and through the creation of kiln-formed vitrigraph, murrine cane and premade fusible components that offer the visual properties of watercolour. This transformation of the glass in a kiln imbues intrigue, movement, and suspension within the glass. Draw closer and you will see encapsulated and colourful cosmos and mysteriously subtle structures signifying the intricacies of the world we live in.