Cate Gundlah                    Jewelry  and  Glass

 

Cate started working with stained glass in the late 1990's. A few years into the work, she took classes at Vitrum Studio in Maryland and broadened her love of glass to include glass fusing and lampworking (glass bead making). 

"I love working with glass in a small form like beads and larger pieces fused in a kiln", says Cate. "Beads are miniature works of art. I like playing with color and combining different colors to see what chemical reactions I can get. And with fusing, I can make a range of pieces, from practical to whimsical." 

 
     
 
     
   
     
 
     
   
     
     

Cate was born in New Jersey, and grew up in Dunellen, NJ and Highland, NY. "Of my seven siblings, half live on the East coast and half on the West coast. I’ve lived on both, but have always come back 'home' to the New Jersey/ New York area."  Her mother sews, and did a lot of it when she and her siblings were growing up. Her father was a carpenter, and all of her brothers are in the construction fields. Cate, too, is in that field; a self-employed electrician, her business installs security systems in commercial buildings and does residential electrical work. Two of her sisters are creative, making crafts and sewing.

"I started in oil painting and drawing in high school, and from there went into many different areas including sewing, pottery and general crafts. I have always found myself trying to find a creative outlet, even in everyday life. 

"In the late 90's I wanted to buy a stained glass window for our newly remodeled bathroom, not knowing at the time that they were so expensive; so I bought the tools and the glass necessary to make a window myself.  I never installed the first window I made, but that started my love of glass." 

Cate took her first class at Vitrum Studio in 2002; in 2004 she returned to take classes with Richard LaLonde, a well-known glass artist from Washington State.

"I will continue learning about the glass process", says Cate. "There are always new things to learn and experimenting to do on my own." 

Cate joined the Catskill Artists Gallery in the spring of 2007 and exhibits her work there. Working in her Paramus, NJ home and her Parksville, NY studio, she continues to experiment, take classes and learn as much as she can about her art.