" I took my first course and completely fell in love with glass and bead designs."

Tracy Slobodian lives in Calgary Alberta where she works as an Interior Designer for a home builder.  She has been interested in Art for as long as she can remember.  Her first memories of interest in art are when her father would give her old comic books to play with.  Tracy would sit for hours tracing and drawing them over and over.   Later, Tracy says, “I went to the University of Manitoba Fine Arts Program, and studied Painting, Photography, Art History; they unfortunately didn’t have a Glass Department.  So it wasn’t until 10 years later that I took my first course and completely fell in love with glass and bead designs.”

“I have always loved glass, and actually took a course after I bought some bracelets from another glass artist, and just couldn’t get enough of them,” says Tracy, adding, “I have been making beads for almost three years.”  Tracy finds the different color combinations and designs to be the most interesting, and also how the colors can change throughout the heating process to the end result.

She tells us, “I always make bead sets, unless it’s for a pendant.”   Although she does not claim to have a signature bead, Tracy says, “my “Madagascar’ and ‘Monaco’ are the best sellers for sure after they were featured in Canadian Living and Avenue Magazine.”  She will be the first to tell you that she has much improved since she first started making beads; as she keeps her first beads in a safe place so she can watch her own progress.   She likes some of her designs better than others, and shares, “but my favorite bead may be [the] one on my ‘Copenhagen’ Wine topper.” (Photo top right)