The Car

I began my glass career in the fine art world making functional sculptural furniture in glass. As 2002 came to a close I had just had the biggest, best solo gallery exhibition of my career. Unfortunately I also had two big problems. My car was getting dangerously close to 200,000 miles and September 11th had left the fine art market in shambles. Where would I find the money for a new car?

A glass side table with a red-and-white draped-cloth-patterned top and curved black and green legs
A glass footstool shaped like a tufted cream cushion with gold rope trim, standing on gold legs The same cushion-shaped glass footstool viewed from a low angle, showing its gold legs

Years earlier, while working on my BFA at Parsons, if I needed money for a special project I would blow a bunch of Christmas ornaments, paperweights and other small items to sell at the 6th Avenue flea market. Sept 11th had decimated the market for fine art, but it hadn’t cancelled Christmas or birthdays, so I thought my old plan would still work. I gave myself a year to see how much money I could make selling “little stuff.” Nearly every Saturday of 2003 found me at one craft fair or another engaged in The Car Project. (Often with the help of my mom xox)

A craft fair booth under a white tent, and two women selling small glass pieces at a table

And it worked! At year’s end I had saved an astonishing $15,000 with which I bought my first new car. I was elated and amazed. A fine art background does not encourage the idea that you’ll be able make a living doing what you love, but if I could make a CAR out of bud vases and paperweights who knew what else might be possible! Perhaps I should start keeping money in a checking account rather than a shoebox, and treat this “little stuff” like a business rather than a project…

A woman sitting on the ground beside an orange Scion xB

If we are lucky, regardless of what we think we want life’s twists and turns bring us to the right place. I thought I was making a car but actually I was starting a small business.

Like many people, I also thought that art and business were polar opposites. Turns out I was wrong about that, too. Creating and running a small business uses the same parts of your brain as making a sculpture. It’s all about analytical thinking and creative problem solving, it’s just that the ‘parts’ you have to sculpt with are different. Twenty-two years later, my little orange Scion is still running strong and Henrietta Glass is the biggest, the best, the most fun, the most rewarding design project of my life!