4. growing in more ways than one

I started this account of how I got to be a glass artist last month (February).  Then I went back and numbered them so as to set them out from their neighbors.  From now on, that is how I will denote another entry.  This account will try to follow a time line but you never know.  And it’s not just about being a glass artist.  It’s really about how we adopted this way of life.  

Mid 1975, I became inspired with the need to buy a house.  I wanted a place that was mine and a place where I could live and have my studio, sandblasting and all.  I had been using my parent’s backyard and then had tried to rent space in an edgy neighborhood but that didn’t work out.  I finally worked out a deal with a cabinet maker but he was getting tired of the arrangement.  So with the help of my parents, a family friend who had a realtor’s license and the advice of a friend of mine on areas of town, I bought a house in a marginal working class inner city neighborhood, mixed, by race and age, with more deteriorated areas around it.  In fact, it got worse before it got better, but that’s a different story.

Also mid 1975, I met Marc who worked third shift at Hughes Tool Co.  By early spring 1976 we had joined households and he basically helped support me while I did small art/craft shows and got the occasional commission.  We married in late summer of that year and a week later, I was pregnant.  By the time I was 6 months along, it became increasingly difficult for me to do all the work so Marc took over doing the sandblasting.  My little nascent studio had moved out of the house and into the two car garage.