Margaret Neher                                                                            Artist Statement

I'm fascinated by the endless variety of shapes and colors found in nature, and in orchids in particular. At the same time, I find myself frustrated by their ephemeral nature; how rare and fleeting they are. I think this is why I've always been drawn to realism in my work; to the challenge of working to capture a complex, ever-changing living thing in an unchanging form. Lampworked glass is particularly suited to this. The fluidity of the process allows the piece to keep evolving; each time I reproduce a given flower it becomes more realistic as my understanding of it grows more fully. Through repetition certain parts of the form become comfortable and familiar, allowing me to see something new, some part more accurately with each rendition. Each piece, then, is more than a copy; it represents a moment in my "relationship" with that flower.