Q1: Tell us a little about yourself. In what areas do you volunteer? 

KR: My name is Karen Rudisill, and I have been volunteering as a docent at the Museum of Glass since November of 2006, mostly conducting tours through the galleries. Over the summer, I worked on Tuesday afternoons and also volunteered for some Mondays. I am excited to continue this fall as a substitute for docents who are “regulars” needing time off because I truly love being at the Museum. In addition to gallery tours, I recently started doing research for Ryan and Elisabeth in the Education Department researching some aspects of art glass; information which will eventually become the content of “hand-out” literature for Museum guests and patrons.  Currently, I am researching the history of Stained Glass, a subject of great interest to me, since I have been a stained glass artist for the past 18 years. How ironic it is that I am very familiar with the process of designing and creating stained glass panels, lamps, 3-D works, architectural and fused glass, and have worked as an instructor and commission artist, and YET I never became familiar with how the craft came into being. This research is just one of the ways I have been inspired as a glass enthusiast and as a craftsman through volunteering here at the Museum of Glass. 

Q2: What brought you to the Museum of Glass? 

KR: I had decided to leave my job in the banking industry, and I wanted to find a way to combine my love for glass and my love for people. Since I’d only moved to Washington State four years ago, I did not know that Tacoma had a glass museum until my banking customers and co-workers told me about it. I always vowed to see the Museum but it never happened because I was working so much. When I decided to quit my job in banking, I started to investigate the Museum of Glass on the internet, and that’s when I realized I could not just visit as a guest, but I could actually be a part of the Museum. It seemed a perfect fit for me and so I emailed an inquiry to the Museum. I was promptly invited in for a tour and once I stepped foot into the door, I knew with absolute certainty that this was the place for me to be and this was the way I wanted to spend my time.

 Q3: Tell us a little about your interest in art and glassmaking. 

KR: Because of my exposure to the Museum’s gallery exhibits and the Hot Shop creations, I intend to expand my fusing experience and see if I can incorporate more fused and slumped creations into my traditional stained glass work. Inspired by Anna Skibska’s large flameworked art pieces, I find myself very interested in exploring and learning the art of flame-working. I have known many artists who have specialized in beadmaking over the years, but I never imagined that flameworking could go beyond beads until I saw Anna’s magical forest with planets at the Museum ofGlass. I’ll start with making beads and work my way up to more creative and large projects. I just want to experiment to see what I am able to do and make as I learn this new craft. 

Although I have never imagined getting anywhere near glass at temperatures of 2000 degrees F, I intend to take at least one glass blowing class within the next year just so I can experience for myself some of the fascination I feel when I watch the Hot Shop team do their magic every day. I also hope to be able to go “behind the scenes” to see what happens to the blown glass pieces once they get inside the “Cold Shop”. I can feel a whole new quest for creativity inside of me, thanks to my time here at the Museum. 

Q4: Do you have a Museum experience that you would like to share? 

KR: I love being with people as a general rule, but I especially enjoy my “job” as a docent, because each tour group has a unique personality, and some of the people I take through our galleries have never thought of glass as being or becoming anything beyond something useful, functional, and quite ordinary. I love to be able to tell them about glass’ possibilities and expand their focus of glass beyond the ordinary.   At the very least, my goal with every tour is to have our guests walk away from the Museum with a new appreciation for the history and process by which a simple drinking glass, held in the hand, was created.

I want our patrons to be on the look out for glass in all its forms, both functional and artistic. I want glass to “jump out at them” in their every day lives and for them to see that glass is everywhere, no matter where they go. When our guests go into the Hot Shop, most of them will watch our team create a piece from the very first gather of glass to the time it is snapped off and rushed to the annealing oven, seemingly unable to take their eyes off the glass creation or leave while a new piece comes together. I feel very privileged to be helping our guests discover a new awareness and interest in glass. To me their new relationship with glass must start here at the Museum of Glass, here with me.  

Finally, to feel truly successful as a docent, my goal is to inspire some of our patrons (the young, the old, and the in between) to actually try their hands at creating glass art. I will tell them that their beginner’s mistakes will turn out beautifully, because it is the nature of glass to be intrinsically beautiful. And who knows? Maybe one day, they could be a featured artist here at the Museum of Glass, and I’ll be introducing their work to people on a tour. 

Q5: What do you love most about being a docent at the Museum? 

KR: Everything! First of all, Ryan and Elisabeth are very good to their docents. They always make me feel truly appreciated and they work hard to supply us all with educational literature on the exhibits, keeping us current via email on weekly tour schedules as well as news about the Museum in general. In addition, as a docent I can attend field trips, special events, study sessions, gallery walk-throughs, not to mention the docent appreciation parties. Ryan and Elisabeth are always encouraging us and try hard to let us know how much they value us. I never felt this appreciated in my jobs in the banking industry!!!