Phyllis Williams
Fused Glass with Exquisite Class

One of the best kept secrets in Oakland can be found at the Oakland Artisan Marketplace.  If you blink, you may miss Phyllis Williams sitting modestly behind a table covered with gorgeous, hand-crafted glass plates.  They almost seem out of place in an open-air market.  It's more likely they'd be found in the home décor department at Neiman Marcus.  But when shoppers at Jack London Square pause to look at Phyllis' collection, they're instantly in awe of the care and labor of love that goes into each beautiful piece.  No two pieces are alike, and each seems to have its own story, which Phyllis loves to share.  Some are long rectangles, dark and sexy with deep purples and blacks; some light and airy with faint, delicate images of floating dragonflies; some institutional or 1950’s Chevy green detailed with black drippings reminiscent of a fine dessert dribbled with melted chocolate.  Some are opalescent, others iridescent.  Some whimsical, some romantic.  Each piece is amazingly sturdy, lead-free, and practical enough to be used as impressive serving plates for real food.  When not in use, they can be proudly displayed as art.

There's no doubt she's always been an artist.  With wide, child-like eyes, Phyllis fondly recalls her first exhibit--a watercolor she did in the 6^th grade.  It was displayed at Fields Marshall, a high-end department store in the Park Forest Plaza located in Park Forest, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  Phyllis can't recall the subject of the painting.  All she remembers is riding down the escalator and feeling overwhelmed with joy upon seeing her painting for the first time.  Making art came naturally, and Phyllis was surprised her painting had received such acclaim.  To be displayed at the entrance of the toy department was quite an honor! 

As a student at Rich East High School, she couldn't resist taking the class that only the coolest of the cool kids took--ceramics.  She loved it so much, she enrolled in an evening adult class.  With so many beautiful pieces sitting at home, she convinced some of her friends to set up a table to sell their ceramics at a school fundraiser.  Early on Phyllis experienced the high of blending art with business. 

Phyllis has been a regular at the Oakland Artisan Marketplace for almost a year.   As with all artists at the Marketplace, it's been a learn-from-experience endeavor.  How do you bring in a steady flow of cash without compromising your artistic need to sustain creativity that's fresh and exciting.  For Phyllis, the marketing aspect of being an artist is not at all threatening, but she admits it's "hard to figure out."  And "without deep pockets for marketing, you must maximize what you're doing."  A bit of wisdom from her 25 years of experience in advertising--a career she fell into after earning a degree in Business Administration and Economics at Arizona State University.

In 1978, Phyllis re-located to San Francisco's Upper Haight.  While hanging out at the Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse on Page Street--where the Grateful Dead played in its early years--Phyllis knew she had to jump back into the artistic fire.  Ceramics classes at Fort Mason lured her back.  In between the demands of her advertising job--a career that was more business-oriented than artistic--she found respite in her "other life" as an artist. 

Phyllis has always loved working in the realm of the 3-dimensional.  "Taking mud, a part of earth, and turning it into something of beauty and value is really cool."  As a ceramic artist, she loved the feeling of creating masks and vases that were soulful reflections of Mother Earth.  However, the process of raku and pit-firing had become much too laborious and time-consuming, and Phyllis was ready for something new.  Her Oakland home is filled with the remains of her past life as a ceramic artist, and I asked her why the switch from a medium that's so heavy and earthy, to one that's so colorful and transparent.  "I've always been fascinated by glass.  I was in grade school the first time I saw a glass blower in Jamestown.  I was amazed at the manipulation of something that's solid matter."   She decided to take the plunge by enrolling in a fused glass class at Studio One in Oakland.  She remembers going to her first class--on the evening of September 11, 2001--taught by renowned glass artist Jim Wixon.   Jim's glassy wisdom and enthusiasm were contagious and Phyllis was hooked.  Since then Jim continues to be Phyllis' mentor, master teacher, and source of boundless inspiration.

Yes, start-up costs were steep.  However, in April 2005, Phyllis purchased her baby--a Skutt Clamshell glass kiln.   It sits in her basement next to her Skutt ceramics kiln, the two kilns looking like grandma and grandbaby.  Phyllis refers to her ceramics kiln as a "nice, old workhorse," for this old faithful has been working since 1979.  The new kiln is amazing.  It can be programmed to up to six settings.  This remarkably simplifies the process as some of Phyllis' pieces are fired 3 times for 15 hours each firing.   All firings have different temperature and time settings.  With this new technology, old school is over.  No need to carefully check and re-check temperatures at all hours of the day and night when the kitchen timer rings.  Phyllis can now sleep stress-free. 

Mixing art and science is fascinating for Phyllis.  There's an element of "danger" and excitement when working with fused glass--a process that liquefies the glass and creates one piece of glass from many pieces.  Glass comes in different colors and textures both in 20 x 36-inch sheets and in powdered form.  It is cut, fashioned into a design, then fired in a kiln at temperatures ranging from 1260 to 1460° F.  During the cooling stage of each firing, annealing occurs--an important process which relieves the glass of any stress.  This is what makes the finished pieces hard and durable. 

Phyllis has also added pendants to her collection.  These beautiful pieces require only two firings and are not "space hogs."  Though the larger pieces are more fun to create, the pendants offer the shopper another way to enjoy the beauty of glass art.

In retrospect, Phyllis recognizes that not only does she like the challenge and beauty of glass, she admits "I'm better at glass than ceramics."  Though friends urge her to return to ceramics, she holds fast to her commitment and enjoyment of fusing glass.  She smiles and refers to the switch from ceramics to glass as a "switch in the brain."

It's taken a while for Phyllis to identify herself first and foremost as an "artist."  To this, Phyllis responds, "For years, being an artist had been my dream and my passion.  Now it's a reality and I really enjoy it."  Though she does not hold an art degree, Phyllis has never let this hold her back.  Over the years, she's realized that "artists have a natural passion and eye for art, and don't need a formal art education." 

What does the future hold for this dream-come-true artist?  She'd like to increase her business to include custom tile work--accenting bathroom and kitchen walls with tiles she's designed and created herself.  She'd also like to learn more about making jewelry by combining glass with precious metal clay--clay that, when fired, transforms into a silver bezel.  Plus, getting that almighty art degree is in the stars--even though, Phyllis admits, "it may not make me a better artist." 

Her journey as a glass artist will always be a gentle reflection of her personal life.  As her artistry stretches and grows, so does her life.  She'll always keep learning and experimenting with new ideas, colors, designs, and palettes.  Being gifted with the artistic bug has ingrained a sense of faith in Phyllis' creative energy.  She seems to flow with its current as freely and gracefully as her life itself.   It's no wonder that yoga and swimming are her choices for physical fitness; and, to reflect her inner beauty, glass her choice of art.