Kari Russell-Pool

Kari and her husband, Marc Petrovic, have been working as studio artists since their respective graduations from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1990, and 1991.

Kari is primarily a flame worker, creating form from pattern with a technique she developed. Somewhat unique to flame working, Kari melts and pulls all her own glass rods.  Her overall approach is one of a watercolor. Coloring with glass powders, and pulling her own glass rods, allows the studio artists an extraordinary control over color. By layering the color and manipulating the density, her hope is the flow of her flame-worked glass appears effortless.

She says of her work, “In glass there is often a ‘right’ way to do things. I am more a proponent of the cowboy way. The cowboy way invites invention, and serves the master of the final result, rather than proper technique. I am proud to be called a craftsman, because craftsmanship underlies all I do, even if I am occasionally caught being an artist.”