"What drew me to glass was its permanence-

an art form that could change shape and color,

With Midwestern roots and a passport so full she's on her third set of pages,

Mary Schmiedicke has found her niche in kiln formed glass and recycled glass

artwork. Fusing dichroic patterns, tumbling recycled glass and painting on glass

makes her work unique to glass enthusiasts. From earrings, necklaces and

magnets to glass and wire faces, the pieces are mystical landscapes determined

by the many colors of the metallic oxides such as titanium and magnesium that

are the origins of many dichroic compounds. In her kiln, metal and oxides fuse

with the permanence of glass to create optical illusions - colors that transform with light and background.

Mary's love of art and design began at an early age and has been refined through workshops and self teaching,

but it has been a lifetime of travel abroad that has brought her creativity, imagination, and inspiration. In her

service to others, since 1990 she has donated her artistic talents to the Sunrise Community, Inc. of South

Florida, a premiere not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the support and assistance necessary for

people with developmental disabilities to take their rightful place in the community -- providing the print art for

their balloon festival fund-raiser each year. Mary is a member of the Mattie Kelly Arts Association, Women in

Aviation International, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Arts Council of Northwest Florida. When she is not perusing

hand-fired beads in Athens or sketching a sidewalk cafe scene in Prague, Mary resides in Destin Florida, with her

husband, son, daughter, sketchpad, and of course, her kilns.

Dichroism is the optical effect of thin layers of metal oxides fused onto glass, making crystalline materials within

the compounds change color depending on direction of perspective. This technology was developed over 100

years ago in Germany and can be compared to the iridescence of nature's opal.