Artist BiographyJill Bittner was born in New York and has lived in various states up and down the East Coast. Alabama is where she currently considers home. As a child, Jill was constantly drawing or painting; she took every art elective in high school that she possibly could. Her first experience with glass, however, was when she began taking lessons in stained glass outside of her required schooling. The desire to delve deeper into the possibilities of the material led her to the hot shop at the Appalachian Center for Craft, a satellite campus of Tennessee Technological University, where she earned her BFA in glassblowing. Jill draws influence from all things cute and colorful. She hopes that through her work, she is able to transmit playfulness and provoke a smile in her viewers. Her latest creations include pop-culture planters and a variety of flavored, sculpted milkshakes. When she's not in the glass studio or drawing out her next idea, you can probably find her with her nose deep inside a book. Artist StatementWhile art is a necessary outlet for my expression, my introduction to glassblowing has added a challenge and enjoyment to the very act of creating. Glass, in its most malleable state, cannot be manipulated directly by hand; instead, the artist must shape the material with tools and utilize the principles of heat and gravity. The movement and bright orange glow that it transmits during this process make me feel as if I’m communicating with a living thing; like I’ve harnessed an element; that I’m working with magic. In addition, it is rare for an artist to work solo with furnace glass; the limited window of time that a maker has to shape this fascinating material means that more often than not, partners collaborate to create a single piece. The comradery that this type of medium instills in partners is one that encourages trust and imagination. The love of this unique process and its relationships drives me to utilize it in my work. As an avid lover of books, cartoons, and sweet things, I always find myself in search of fun characters, colorful settings, smiles, laughter, and happy endings - idealistic traits from a dream-filled youth that I want to share and never outgrow. My pieces are a combination of the brightness and imagination I developed as a child, with the skills and discipline to manipulate glass that I honed as an adult. I endeavor to make representational pieces, whether they are purely sculptural or created to be functional, that carry a childlike simplicity. I portray a lighthearted view of the subject matter of my choice, incorporating the fluid, curving nature of the material and its shine. My hope is that through my use of bright color and imagery, I am able to tap into the viewer’s sense of playfulness and fun.