Janice Peters is a warm glass artist who has recently made an amazing collection of artwork. Never having worked with glass before, her first introduction to warm glass occurred when a close friend of Janice purchased a GoggleWorks workshop gift card for her. She took a leap of faith and decided to go back to the path she had traveled once before.

Janice told us, “I do have a degree in art that I received at Penn State in 1977. I drew a little after college but then I stopped. I carried mail for 30 years and until this, I didn’t have an outlet for my artistic energy.”

It was evident that she had finally found a space and a material to properly express herself. We asked Janice about her time and connection with GoggleWorks. When artists find a space that speaks to them, a place where they feel comfortable and free, they make it their home.

“I’ve been coming since August of 2018. I was in a very dark place at that time. My relationship of 30 plus years had ended abruptly and I would rarely leave my house. I had just retired from the Post Office and I felt as though my future had been squelched. But then I started taking Maker classes at GoggleWorks and it was the best therapy for me, a new environment, new friends, and a new art form in which to express myself. It saved me. I can honestly say that it saved me.” 

Janice discussed her process in creating her pieces, not just the art she made for the exhibit but something special that lies within each one of her pieces of artwork.

“I did create one piece, it was kind of expressionistic, but I did put the word hope in it, but you gotta really search for it. I don’t come in with an end piece in mind. I usually work with color in texture, like everything in my house. It just happens naturally. I like the mystery of when you put something in the kiln, it doesn’t always come out the way you expect it to and you have things that break. Just rolling with punches. Maggie convinced me to have a show. I’m not really an outward type of person. But it was nice to get my pieces out there to look at.” 

Being able to find a place that you share but at the same time feel as though it is your own is a rare and wonderful thing to experience. In getting familiar and clearly becoming very talented with glass, Janice also became an instructor at GoggleWorks.

“And I love teaching too. When I teach the classes I get to see what other people have in their minds. They come into class saying that they’re not really creative, and they don’t know what to make, and by the end of the class they have something really cool done.”

Janice’s pieces are an amazing display of self reflection and expression. She is the perfect example of the wonders that can occur in one’s own imagination when artists gain the ability to openly accept a new challenge in life. 

“I felt at home here right away. We bring food in and talk. Everyone here is really helpful. Being here opened up a whole new world for me.”