A professional-grade kiln might sound like an unusual birthday present, but Sarah Logemann thought the gift she received from her husband in 2020 was perfect, as it enabled her to further her passion for creating beautiful art glass sculptures.

Although Logemann had taken some glassblowing classes in high school and at Syracuse University, where she earned a BFA in art photography, it wasn’t until 19 years later, when her three children were older, that she could devote herself to making glass artworks, a skill mostly self-taught.

Her interest in the craft was piqued after seeing exhibits in Detroit, where she was raised, by a couple of renowned glass artists, including one by American artist Dale Chihuly at the Detroit Institute of Art.

“It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life; I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” says Logemann. “He is the reason glass is an art.”

A true expert in the field, Chihuly developed innovative techniques to create extraordinary pieces of all shapes, sizes and colors. He is known for always pushing the envelope and continually devising new ways to work with light and colors.

She was also enthralled after seeing an exhibit by Lucio Bubacco, one of Murano’ most accomplished Glass Masters in the Italian city considered the center of excellence in glass sculpture and artwork. She was pleased to visit his studio in Italy last year while she was there to attend a glass conference.

Although Logemann received training in numerous art mediums, she was self-taught beyond the basics of glass sculpture.

“You have to have such a vision. You learn in art school about composition, color, and how to get movement out of pieces,” says Logemann.

Her labors have been complicated by a medical condition that requires her to regularly learn new ways of working on her projects.

“Psoriatic arthritis in my hands has messed with my tendons and muscles, which hurt ridiculously,” she says. At one point, the pain was so great her husband had to cut her meat, which she says was ridiculous as she was only in her 40s.

“Then one day I said, ‘Not today. We’re going to figure this out! We’re going to make art on days I can,’” Logemann explains. Fortunately, the pain seems to lessen when she is in her studio, which she says is “super bizarre.”

“You have stories of things that happen in life, and you get through it and move on; just like the waves that come in and take you out, but come back in. It can be stormy one day and calm the next. It’s what life is about.”

The wave simile may be one reason why some of her focus has been on works with a water theme; that and her observation that melting glass moves similarly to water.

Learning to work the kiln, equipment that reaches 1,500 degrees, was a challenge, and became a study in trial and error. Her arthritis also meant learning how best to use the precise tools to cut glass into shapes, patterns and curves.

“I’ve invested a lot in Band-aids,” says Logemann, “but I get to do what I want.”

The process of melting and fusing layers of colored glass means that every design she creates is unique, whether it be a glass ‘painting,’ a bowl, a sculpture or another form of glass art.

“Each piece is a new idea,” says Logemann. Although she doesn’t work from a pattern, some designs are based on photographs she has taken.

Instead of paint, Logemann orders 12-inch-square sheets of glass in varied colors and textures, some containing a built-in pattern.

Each sheet is 3 millimeters thick, and she forms the design by layering assorted shapes carved from other pieces atop one another. The layered pieces go into the kiln for 24 hours to fuse; each piece uniquely and beautifully melting together.

To create a glass bowl, Logemann puts a sheet of glass on top of ceramic or stainless-steel shapes, which don’t melt, and the sheet “slumps” under the intense heat into the desired shape. She has also created unusual charcuterie boards by melting glass bottles in the kiln.

Logemann never throws out leftover glass fragments, adding them instead to jars that make up her wall of “frit,” as she calls it, to be used for future projects.

Her entry in the Vero Beach Art Club’s Art by the Sea Exhibition drew plenty of attention. The piece featured a framed profile of a woman against a soft green background to which she added an elaborate headpiece festooned with colorful flowers and an orange butterfly. Other than the frame itself, the entire ‘painting’ was crafted out of glass.

As most artists work alone, she says she enjoys the guidance and camaraderie of fellow members of the Vero Beach Art Club, where she serves as a board member. She plans to show her work at the club’s second annual Pointe West Fine Arts Festival, which takes place Nov. 2-3.

She also met fellow glass artists from around the world at a Glass Art Society conference and developed friendships with several who now form a support system.

“The glass world is so friendly,” says Logemann, who keeps in touch with them on Facebook or by texting to work through technical issues related to the art form.

Logemann has already won prizes for her work and says she gets as much satisfaction selling a small ornament to a child as she does when she sells larger, more expensive pieces to adults.

“I’m still learning,” she says. “I’m in it for the sculpture.”

Photos by Joshua Kodis