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The Joy in Helping Others Through Art: Creativity, Healing & Purpose · the ACT OUT podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Act Out Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Adam Tomlin.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Nancy Dillingham Marks.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: She is a fused glass artist, and she is also the founder of Glass Arts Collective.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Let's roll the tape.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Nancy, how are you?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Adam, I am great.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing very well.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, I say that.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: My uh my my son has been uh uh a little under the under the weather, so we've we've had we've had to keep him home.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: He is a little bit of a tyrant, like very demanding.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's uh he's two, so he has all the opinions.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I am very excited to be speaking to an adult.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell the uh audience what you uh what you currently do?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am the owner of a glass art studio called Glass Arts Collective.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: We primarily teach classes in fused glass.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: We have an open studio program, and we have an incredible marketplace that my open studio members can put their art in.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a huge variety of local artists all being showcased.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, so I live in uh Norfolk, Virginia, and there is the Chrysler Museum here, and it is a whole bunch of different uh blown glass works, uh, and it's like it's it's so beautiful.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I love that kind of art.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've actually got to uh to make like Christmas ornaments before we're like doing like blow, like you know, like blowing and all, extremely challenging.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it I don't have the lung capacity for it.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's quite a bit, yeah.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't get into the blown glass.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's a phenomenal studio up in Santa Barbara that that teaches, and he's been trained by masters.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we do what's called warm glass, that's considered hot glass.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Warm glass is doing it at room temperature in a comfortable environment with music playing, fresh air coming in, some stress, no more capacity required.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: We call it the no stress zone.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then at nights I put it into kilns that are similar to ceramic kilns, but the heating elements are in a little bit different places, and that's where it heats up and fuses the glass together.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I definitely your your way sounds a lot cooler.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I already want to give it a try.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we actually teach kids seven and up.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's really quite safe.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We teach the safety measures around it, and actually kids are better about it than adults.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Adults get too distracted.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Not surprised at all there.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you had the uh the studio?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am just starting my seventh year.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It opened five weeks, the doors five weeks before COVID hit.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Timings everything.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can imagine that was tough.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um what uh what did you do before then?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in corporate for a very long time.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I worked for major corporations in various roles, sales operations, started off as a secretary, and uh worked my way up and to the last job before I officially retired from corporate was working for my husband in a his company that was a local network infrastructure reseller.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we took care of everything in the walls that makes a company's business run that you don't even look at.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you plug that cord in, it works because of us.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: So all the things that I know absolutely nothing about.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a tech head.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a geek.
• 3:33
  unknown: Yeah.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you uh whenever you retired, did you were you just kind of wanting to like fill the time, or was it like, I need to find a new purpose?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of what where where where was your head whenever you uh whenever you kind of stopped working in the corporate world?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: All the above.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I thought about being a massage therapist and went to school, loved doing it, but I was horrible about killing time in between appointments.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I then became a travel advisor specializing in cruises, which I really enjoyed, but was not as good at marketing myself as I should have been, but loved it because I was so detail oriented.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted to make sure that what you saw on TV and those ads, we got the right cruise for you with the right results.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's all it's an expensive thing to do, and and it should be done right for you.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And each peep person can be individualized, but I wasn't doing enough.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I was a little on the bored side.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: What am I going to do?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And during this time, my folks had relocated from Massachusetts to Southern California so I could help out more, which was a phenomenal thing, and I am so blessed.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the assisted living facility they were at had someone coming on site teaching fused glass.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, mom was so excited, and I have no idea what it is.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I am one of those people who claimed I did not have a creative bone in my body.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: My dad and my sister had all the talent.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, you know what?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take a class and I'm gonna have fun and this be something else I could do with mom.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I dragged my feet.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was a stubborn little two-year-old who didn't think I was gonna waste my money to do something I'm not gonna be good at.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I had that major mindset shift, mindset shift, say that three times fast, and said, you know what?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing this for anything but something else to do with my mom, and my mom doesn't care if I'm good at it or not.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I went and took the class.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the first class was okay.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was, I did all right.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: The teacher didn't really explain a lot.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of things that were missing in my need to know personality.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: But then my dad and I decided for my mom's 85th birthday that we would take her to a class and she could have a little birthday party at the studio.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: There had been a new studio that opened here in town, and we were their first birthday party.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I gave my mom the little birthday cards that she could pass out to her friends, and we got them all over here thanks to the assisted living facility using their van and driving them over.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that particular manager just sparked something in me that I didn't know was there.
• 6:10
  unknown: Hmm.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I had such a good time.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like kind of doing it, having a good time with it.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think it was uh like what what was it about that manager that like kind of like was able to spark the uh the passion for you?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of it was explaining things.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of little pieces that don't seem like they're that important, but they are.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like how much pressure you use with one of the tools makes a big difference in the quality of the breaking of the glass.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she explained all of it.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: She explained to me that some glass reacts to the heat and will change color.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a big deal because one of the pieces I had used my first class changed colors dramatically from what I thought it was going to be and was not a color I would have used had I known.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So all these little things made so much more sense.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she was just encouraging, she was supportive, and it just it didn't take much.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I just, I mean, it's like it was just flowing out of me, and I was having so much fun.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: You had said said before that it was kind of like uh, hey, uh, I'm doing this with my mom.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: She's not gonna care if I'm good or not, so I may as well start.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Prior to that, did you kind of have a problem starting things or a fear of starting things because you you wanted to be good or want to be perfect at it from the beginning?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, no, which is what's really funny.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have been okay Yeah, no, no.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was, I think because in other areas for jobs, I lucked out, or it was very fortunate, whatever the right words are, that I was able to get several positions that if you looked at my resume, you would have said I didn't qualify for.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I had a go-for it attitude, and I was going to learn what I needed to learn and do what I needed to do.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all logical.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was there was a method to it, there was a logic to it, there was a procedure to it, and I could do it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I had this mindset that I wasn't talented when it came to art.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what my stopper was at wanting to really proceed or try it, because I already knew I couldn't do it.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But which was not true.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've been telling myself the wrong thing for a very, very long time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't it amazing how well your brain can create a reality, whether it's true or not?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is unbelievable.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's scary because, you know, what did I miss out on all those years?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but having the go-for-it attitude got me so far, you would think I would have just translated that over.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, tell yourself something.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't remember ever anybody ever telling me that.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I never had a teacher who told me I wasn't good, don't do this, or anything like that, that I ever remember.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know what put that in my mind, but it's horrible what we can believe.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: You I think you said your dad and your sister you thought were the creative ones growing up.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Was it maybe that like uh they had uh maybe like so much like natural talent that like you maybe compared yourself or something to them when you were or like you're older?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I did.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I did.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: My sister and my dad just had so much talent and could pick up just about any kind of art and do it well.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I laugh and I laugh at people who tell me I can't even draw a stick figure.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I still can't.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what a stick figure truly represents either.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's no logic behind that either for me.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't need to.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And with fused glass, you don't have to be able to draw.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be able to paint.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can you paint with glass?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when I do it, I don't think I do it as well.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't stopped me from trying because I've learned I have more talent than I believe.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm learning to believe in myself.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: How pivotable or how pivotable, how how pivotal was taking that first step of just, you know what?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna try this with mom.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like to where you are now with the mindset that you currently have.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have to tell you, the years have flown by very quickly.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I did use the time with COVID to be in the studio because I was by myself, so I was I couldn't catch it from anybody or give it to anybody.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I practiced and I challenged myself.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I challenged things that I had been hearing on videos and podcasts and things like that, that say, well, you can't do it this way.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, why not?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm one of those you can't say the word because that was not an acceptable word in my vocabulary, which my parents learned very early on.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: So you the that's kind of like what you enjoy doing, just getting in and not even knowing what the rules are, figuring them out yourself, and finding out that folks that have made rules were like, that's a little arbitrary.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And some of them are true.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna say all of the rules were bad, but a lot of them were.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And now when I teach, I try to explain to people, you may hear other ways to do things.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Don't dismiss it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are multiple ways to do just about anything in life.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And to be told you only can do it one way, you know, it's a hard thing to buy.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you are uh like sitting down with uh with like a new piece of glass to to start working with, like what what are some of the feelings or what what what what kind of like comps up inside of you?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because I'm not somebody who plans out a lot of things ahead of time.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of walk up to the glass and and sometimes I'll have an idea of something I'd like it to look like, but otherwise I'll look around and I'll look at pieces of glass and I know it sounds silly, but they kind of talk to me.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: They make me feel like maybe this looks more like the clouds do outside right now, or maybe this feels more like that winter that the East Coast is getting hit with.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it it just it sort of says something to me.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like, okay, what else am I thinking?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: What else am I seeing?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden I stop really thinking and I just start doing.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it just comes out.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you'd asked me to write it all down first, there's no way I could have done it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you asked me to put step by step, what am I going to do, I couldn't do it.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Which is kind of uh kind of unique uh because or it seems almost contradictory because you like so much of like the rules and like the instructions, this, this, this.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So to have something that's so important to you that you're just like, ah, screw it.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna, we're just gonna see what happens.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of uh it's really interesting.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's really very freeing, too.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do understand there are rules kind of within the boundaries of glass.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're gonna do different firing schedules, you have to have a certain amount of glass on together.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you go too much, then the firing schedules have to be modified.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I understand all those pieces, which is great.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it really helps me to help be a support person for other people.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um, with the open studio members I've got, we all have different techniques and different styles and different palettes.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it is so much fun to watch everybody.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I would, and I feel sometimes even in a class with beginners, I feel like I'm the fly on the wall and just watching their creations come alive.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it is the most rewarding thing.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds so silly, but even after six years of teaching fused glass, I still feel the same way.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love that feeling.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, I am so satisfied and feeling incredible.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of struck me there was that you were that you're able to have something that you were so passionate about, and it brings up like, you know, so much joy inside of you.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you're also able to form a community around that as well, it seems like.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: How were you able to form that community piece?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I asked my open studio folks that on a somewhat regular basis, and they said it's you, that I'm the one that they were drawn to because I'm so excited about it, I'm so passionate about it, and I'm so free about it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't put anybody in a box.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't tell anybody they have to do XYZ.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll be there if they need guidance.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't tell them they can't do this, but this is what will happen if you do it, and let them decide if they still want to move forward.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or let them push back and say, well, what if I do this instead?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we have wonderful conversations that go really deep in one direction or another.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is so much fun.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at the end of the day, it's like I remember the saying regularly, if you find something that you're really passionate about, you never work a day in your life.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I feel like in this last phase, I guess I would technically say, of my life.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, how incredible am I to have this opportunity.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for validating a theory that I've had.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's that it's it's authentic uh authenticity is contagious.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you are you are comfortable in yourself, if if if you you are open up and expressing, you were going to give the people around you permission to do the exact same thing.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's a very powerful that's something very powerful to have.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And every now and then someone will come in and they like the concept here, but they don't really want to be part of it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't feel comfortable because everyone else is so open and free and supportive.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so those people don't stay.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel bad, but at the same time, that's okay.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not every place is for everybody.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So um I am a uh recovering insecure person.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And what I can uh it's been like one day since my last insecurity, so I'm doing very, very well.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever, like I kind of remember back whenever, like pre-therapy, being around someone who or like being around people that are just so secure in themselves, all it did, it felt like to me was shown a spotlight on my insecurities.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it made me feel kind of like yeah, I think it may unconsciously, but like made me feel lesser than.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would kind of naturally kind of like uh move away from that.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I could be something like that.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that that's a very, very good statement, and it probably is.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we try not to make anyone feel like they aren't doing well.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's and I have to be, I mean, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's almost impossible not to be able to do a nice piece with fused glass.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna use it.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Challenge accepted.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I it really is because I mean I had someone with special needs come in and all he did was take one of our little jars or little containers of glass and just tipped it over on the base piece and said, I'm done.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, my gosh, what's that gonna look like?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like he put no effort into it.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's just the colors of glass, when they're fused together, they soften, they brighten, and there's just such a warmth coming, even from the cool colors, that just it just lights up your life.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: How long did it take you after you had that really good experience with that the manager where you were absolutely hooked, or was that it?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that moment you were all in.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: That moment pretty much got me hooked.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I would I lived nearby, I worked nearby, and so when I had free time, I would come over.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And she was she was pretty much doing everything herself.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd come over, I'd sweep the floors, I'd fill the jars, anything I could do to help her.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I was in the mood to make something, I would then, you know, pay to make something, which was great.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to be the space had so much beautiful energy that when things weren't quite as good outside the doors of my studio now, um you know, it's like I gotta be in the studio.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And people, when they walk in, they feel the energy change.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that you do when you walk in our our studio is the marketplace, and there's all this beautiful glass and all these beautiful colors and patterns, and people go, Oh my god, I love this.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love this, I love this.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, find something you don't love.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they just laugh.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: They said there isn't anything.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I said, There'd be things that are more your taste, but there's nothing in here you're not gonna love.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just the greatest feeling because it's representing these people that I believe in and I want I'm so supportive of.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you how did you get the idea to create your own studio?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it it takes a lot, it takes a lot of courage to have a hobby, to turn a hobby into a uh into a profession.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: This was a major leap of faith.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I had been doing fused glass for just about a year.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the studio that I had come to with this wonderful manager, they closed this location.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I was panicked.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna do?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: My husband's first response was you can't have the garage.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Does that feel like a husband comment?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was about to say that sounds so he he then turned it around pretty quickly.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was very supportive.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciated his support.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, You have been running my business for like the last 17 years.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was a chief operating officer and had all the accounting and everything under me.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, You know how to run a business, open your own.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, But I'm more a business person than I'm an artist.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, So?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, that's true.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: I can bring another artist that I know that helped teach until I can get there.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I checked with some of my friends and they agreed.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we sat down with my mentor and said, Am I really ready to do this?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, You know, all the help you gave me for just wanting to help me, you have no idea how much you actually picked up and learned because you were helping me.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, You actually could absolutely run your own studio.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, I don't live very far away.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: If something really happens, I'm a phone call away.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm very grateful to say there were only a few phone calls.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I mean, as horrible as COVID was, I had the mindset that I'm gonna turn it into something positive.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was a single parent the majority of my life.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter and she was three when I got divorced from her dad.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I always wished there were more hours in the day.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I put that out in the universe.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I wish there were more hours in the day.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow I was granted those hours back, and I took advantage, and I really became an artist.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was just about to ask you, I guess kind of COVID was a little bit of a double edged sword.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I I can imagine just opening up, needing to have like revenue, needing uh as a new company, you need to make money.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But then at the same time, you have the other end where you have now all this time to be able to create and really like master your art.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that balancing act was kind of helpful for you.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: It absolutely was.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, financially.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Financially, but I had planned on the idea that at least the first year or two, I probably wouldn't be profitable because people have to find me.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a new business.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a market that's not as known.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Fused Glass has only been around maybe 55 years.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a growing platform because again, it is so wonderful to work with.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not, it's not something like you put up, hey, I have new clothes for kids, or, you know, hey, I'm a new sporting goods store.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: That somebody knows what it is.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: But people all know about blown glass and stained glass.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: But fused glass, that kind of comes in between those two.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, what?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to blow glass.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's hot.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's terrible.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's scary.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you had also mentioned earlier that you that you didn't kind of like promoting yourself.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, it's not something that necessarily kind of came natural to you.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Very much feel the same way.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: During COVID, I took classes on marketing.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're never too old to learn.
• 23:03
  unknown: Sorry.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, fair enough.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I it was one of those marketing things, come on the Act Out podcast.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: I also liked your other past guests.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that was another reason I really wanted to come on your podcast.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I really uh so Tara actually, the backdrop, uh, the mural that's behind me now, she uh she did that for us as well.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was it was so cool to watch her.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh it seems like very kind of similar to your style, where uh it was just this huge black canvas.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's like 11 feet by seven feet, something like that.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um she would just kind of start in one little area and she'd spray paint a little bit here, and then she'd move on to like the other side and do a little bit there.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you kind of watch and you would wonder, like, where in the world's going?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: But then it would just like to watch that.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's so cool to see someone do something that they're very passionate about.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, absolutely.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: I may not be able to like spray paint and I wouldn't be able to tell you, like, oh, this fuse magenta went perfectly with this like lavender.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be able to like tell you anything like that, but like seeing her light up and doing the different areas, it like it it made me feel excited, you know.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I I definitely I I get the I I get the glass thing too.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: It is a lot of fun.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: I actually had a because I am a kind of a geek head, I did create a theme song for my studio not very long ago.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so interested in it.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: A little long to listen to, but it's three minutes.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it was like, you know, welcome to Glass Arts Collective.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was like, and it's just a really bouncy kind of theme to it.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I really like this.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes me happy.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I kept playing it in the studio for everybody, and they said, Okay, Nancy, we've heard it.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now I I need to get a theme song for myself now.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm slacking.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, see?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, with all the technology out there, it's a lot easier than you think.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm sure.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it's you know, it's it was a lot of fun because I really did create the the a lot of the words for the theme.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't do the music.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I did use AI for that.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I did use AI to actually write the actual song ultimately.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I did have a tremendous amount of input into what was going to be in the You've talked a lot about kind of like the the go-for it attitude.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh where did that come from?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something that you've had your entire life?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is it that you had to develop that?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like what do you think?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had it pretty much my entire life.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I had an amazing upbringing and a lot of opportunities.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: When I was in third grade, my dad had a sabbatical.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was a social psychology professor, and we lived in Israel for a year, and I was fluent and I would go around translating for people because what uh what else would an eight-year-old do?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we go in the super, you know, somebody come in the supermarket and they're trying to ask where something is, and I would hear them struggling, and I'd go over and I'd help, and I'd sometimes I had to ask in Hebrew, where was it?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then I could take them over to it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I I would go to the point of showing them exactly where it was because I wasn't just gonna point.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom would just beam.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: She was just so excited about all the things.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we came back in fourth grade.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had to learn French, and the words came out in Hebrew automatically, and that was a little awkward.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't like being laughed at.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I learned that very early on.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I pretty much I got into television production.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: We had a production studio in our junior high, and it was our local cable network.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was all black and white in those days.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I just watched somebody doing it, and I just picked up on it, and he had to go into the actual studio and needed to have a camera changed, and I just did it.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like looking at me.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: How did you know how to do it?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I was watching you.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I learned how to play Mahjon by watching my grandmother.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just watched, and they needed a, you know, an extra person.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just jumped in and they were all, you know, all these grandma people all were like, How did you learn it?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: By watching you guys.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: I learned much better from watching and having trying hands-on than I do from reading.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: It it's some it's amazing.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You kind of have like this sense of like almost fearlessness.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, uh, you know what, I'll just give it a try.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I as someone who is like wanted uh to like feel like I had a perfect mastery over anything before I started.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's it's it's nice and refreshing to see uh see someone completely different.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: I have really embraced my imperfections.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I am very honored and to ex respect them.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't expect to be perfect.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: We weren't designed to be perfect.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if I didn't get it right the first time, hey, I'll try again.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I repair majority of my equipment here.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some of it I can't because I can't lift or I can't do something to it.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I'll call and and bring in someone else.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone just kind of looks at me like, Really?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're not afraid to dig into a 220 am, you know, circuit?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, the power's off.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's unplugged.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Power's off, you know.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: You were far braver than me.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mess it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Even if the power's off, I don't trust it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I just I took electronics.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I refused to dissect an animal in high school, and I took electronics instead, which helped with that that comfort level.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it might sound like I had no brains on that one, but I actually did have a bit of a background, which I'm sure helped give me that confidence to do it as well.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I, you know, being a single parent, you do learn to do a lot of things on your own.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm sure there.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: What does the pursuit of happiness mean to you?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm there.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have found it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I never thought anything could be as rewarding and as much fun.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: I just I beam every time I share my story with anyone.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just get so excited and it never gets old.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, again, I just, oh well, but we just got the opportunity to do 35 handmade, one-of-a-kind lanterns for the Chamber of Commerce's gala in May.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I opened it up to my open studio members to join me.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: I said, let's do it together.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we're all having such a great time.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's just the pursuit of happiness for others as well.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: I have an opportunity to do something that I love, and my members love it too, but now they don't have to worry about whether somebody's going to buy it.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, there's no pressure of, I gotta do it this way.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: They just get to let loose and have fun.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the energy in here has grown over the last week and a half since we got started.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's just I'm sure.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I'm here at the studio.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Westlake Village, California, which is Southern California, halfway between LA and Santa Barbara.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: The bigger city is Thousand Oaks.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: The studio is glassartscollective.com, is our website.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Our marketplace is there.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Scheduling classes is there.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: All the classes are here in person.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So unfortunately, you have to be in the area.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're traveling through, we can always ship you something.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the marketplace ships throughout the United States.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: That that is good to know.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: I am I'm going to have to check that uh check that out myself.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are you on uh social media?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Is the uh studio on social media?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not as good at that as I should be.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: I do run out of time when I'm playing a lot, but I just posted today on Instagram and it's in YouTube.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Facebook didn't post for some reason.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta find out why not.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, it's pretty much the basics in those areas, and just I don't have to overdo it.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: This has been absolutely fantastic.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like you you were right.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like your passion just comes through the uh screen.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it was so exciting talking to you.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you so much.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've had so much fun talking to you, and and the things you're doing with the podcast are great.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh thank you very much.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm really excited about it.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh hopefully there hopefully there's a future here.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: I believe there is.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nancy, thank you so much for acting out with me.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.