Ana Maria Torres is an innovative glass artist who designs her sculptural and decorative pieces with pre-Columbian motifs of her native
Ecuador. She finds inspiration in her cultural tradition and creates contemporary fused glass art, uniting the past and present. Natural forces - earth, wind, fire and water - and religious images are also recurring themes in her work.
Ana Maria Torres was born in Esmeraldas,
Ecuador, in 1968. After completing a program in graphic design from the
Metropolitan Design School in
Quito (1990), she started working in her family's business CeramiCarma, where she developed her techniques in design and decoration.
After nearly twenty years of working in decorative arts - ceramics, decorative painting on wood and silkscreen on textiles, she decided to focus her creative energy on fused glass. With little information and no instruction, she experimented on her own and experienced the frustrations of the trial and error method. Building her technical knowledge through research and finding her creative path in conjunction with other artists, she has developed her own distinctive style which has been recognized in various countries of the world. In 2005, she established her own studio and, in addition to her art work, she teaches at the Universidad Duncan in
Quito.
Torres' decorative pieces have been exhibited and sold in over 400 galleries and home décor businesses throughout the
United States and
Europe. We are fortunate that she will be in attendance at the gallery opening as part of her coming American trip.
• Born in
Oklahoma,
Sherry Casper lived in
Tennessee and
Indiana before settling permanently in
Oregon. She has exhibited widely in
Portland and on the
Oregon coast for more than twenty years, capturing the spiritual essence of her subjects — birds, animals, nudes, African tribesmen, flowers, coastal landscapes or abstract compositions.
She incorporates images from her experiences into her own personal vision and style. Her travels to
Paris, the British Isles, the Greek Isles,
Mexico, and the
Hawaiian Islands inspired her to change her focus and to develop a new palette of colors.
Her exhibition history includes solo exhibitions at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Oregon Zoo. Gallery shows include Dragonfire Gallery,
Cannon Beach,
OR,
Beppu Gallery,
Pacific City,
OR, Gango Gallery,
Portland,
OR, and De'luge Gallery,
Portland, OR. She was the owner of Betwixt and Between Gallery in
Pacific City, OR and showed at the
Alberta Street location of Onda Gallery.
