OACG Featured Artists - October 2007
Maria Soliman & Judy Sterling

 Maria Soliman does with glass what lapidaries do with stones – she makes cabochons of uncommon beauty.

The advantage of glass vs. rocks? Dichroism. Dichroic glass has a range of colors rather than one solid color, and when fused en cabochon, it results in stunning pieces that can be worn as pendants, rings, earrings brooches – you name it.  A characteristic of dichroic glass is that when it is viewed from different angles, the color appears to change.

“An example would be a piece of jewelry that appears yellow and red. As the piece of glass jewelry is moved, a variety of shades of yellow, orange and red will show up,” Maria said. 

All the jewelry pieces are one of a kind and all are handcrafted in her studio in her residence in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. She shares her home with Ahmed, her husband of 11 years, their 6-year-old daughter, Hala, and a SharPei named Cleo. 

She also makes clocks. “My clocks are designed to be used in smaller spaces such as desks, bedrooms and kitchens and are intended to be fun and lighthearted,” Maria said.

 Maria has been working with glass for the past 11 years. “I was attracted to it because of the unique qualities it possesses as an art form,” she said. “I started in stained glass as a hobby. Two years ago I took a workshop and learned to love warm (fused) glass because of the depth and variety it affords me as an artist.”  Fused dichroic glass offers Maria the opportunity for creativity that she craves.

“I love fused glass because it allows me to be creative and relax. I never know what I’m going to do when I walk into my studio. I just start playing and see what I can create. I may have a general idea of creating earrings or a certain style of cabochon but other than that I just let my hands do the work,” Maria said, explaining how her muse works.

Her formal instruction includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Statistics from The Ohio State University, and her craft education includes instruction in both stained and fused glass, a couple of introductory courses, and networking with fellow artists who are willing to share what they have learned through experience and workshops. 

While managing her home, cooking and caring for her husband, daughter and SharPei, Maria manages to devote an average of 5-10 hours of time each week to studio work, designing, firing, cold working, finishing pieces, applying for shows, ordering supplies and all the other things required by her passion. 

Maria’s shop is outfitted with a drill press, grinder, sanders and kiln, and her supplies include a variety of types of glass, sterling silver findings and kiln supplies. She soon will be adding silversmithing equipment – a torch and other supplies for working silver – to her workshop.   

“Recently, I learned about silverwork from fellow OACG member Dave Crookston and loved it,” she said. These skills will permit her to feature her work in bezeled pendants, earrings and bracelets, all of which she hopes to have available this coming summer. 

Summer and fall demand more of Maria’s time because that’s when she is focused on showing her art/craft at art festivals around the state. “Working with glass is relaxing and gives me great satisfaction when I can see the finished piece that I created with my own hands,” Maria said.  And she is giving back. This year Maria has been passing along what she knows about fused glass through an after school enrichment program in schools near her home. She also has been teaching service groups such as Girl Scouts. 

She’s looking forward this summer to demonstrating her craft and crafts at birthday parties for children and adults and ladies night-out parties. 

Maria can be reached via e-mail at soliman.6@osu.edu.

Judy Sterling
Put a piece of wood, marble or metal into Judy Sterling’s hands and she will find in it shapes and forms, usually from nature. Then she takes up her tools and lets you see what she saw in her mind’s eye. 

From her well-equipped 20- by 24-foot Sterling Nightengale Studio in Canton emerge wooden and marble wonders alive with what she calls “a sensual essence” and glowing with a warm patina or seemingly lighted from within.   When a piece requires support for its presentation, she turns to her torch and steel, and voila, metallic vines and leaves grow to embrace the sculpture. 

Judy is the former owner/operator of Construction Container Systems in Massillon, Ohio, and mother of three grown children: Kathy Sterling, a Web designer in Columbus, Ohio, Jim Sterling and John Sterling, both contractors with Beaver Excavating in Canton, Ohio. 

Judy has immersed herself in her art, returning recently from a six-month intensive marble-sculpting program with master sculptor Jena Fillacio at the Lorenzo de Medici in Italy. “I sold my home and car and stored my equipment to move to Italy to study with Fillacio,” she said. “I was able to meet and learn from many wonderful artists who have worked the quarries of Carrara, where Michelangelo worked and lived a significant portion of his career. To have studied at the feet of the master and to live in the birthplace of art with unlimited access to the academy, the home of the David, is surely the dream of every sculptor.” 

Judy received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Magna Cum Laude with ceramics major in 2006 from Kent State University. She also studied classical methodology of clay sculpting at the master’s level at Wells College in Florence, Italy in 2006.  She attended workshops in 2000, 2001 and 2002 at Laloba Clay Ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with Biz Littell and Tim Coleman, and studied with Mary Beth Coulter in 2002 at Talocapague, Mexico. 

Judy considers her work “a love affair with grace and beauty” and says she “pushes the limits of aesthetics and composition to make the work speak, to interpret our world.” 

Her studio is replete with Italian made pneumatic stone carving chisels, sculpting and woodworking tables, woodworking tools and chisels, welder, compressor, oxy-acetylene torch, 9-cubic-foot kiln, two potter’s wheels, jeweler’s bench and assorted jeweler’s tools and hand equipment for manipulating metals. She’s in the process of converting an old kiln into a gas forge to help with the making of forged supports for her wood carvings. 

Judy finds inspiration from nature and “from within” and says “the creation of my work gives me the pleasure of accomplishment and completion.”  “I see artists as the interpreters of our world – we help the world see in new ways,” she said. 

Judy grew up in East Canton and lived most of her adult life in the Jackson Township area of Stark County. “My roots are here, my children and my friends are here, but art is that which speaks to my soul and leads into the world. I intend to live and work my art and offer my skills, my work to the world by keeping my mind and heart open to new opportunities and visions,” she said. 

Judy is a new member of the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild and believes “networking is an essential part of marketing (herself) as a professional artist.” She hopes the OACG can provide connections with other artists and the community.  Others have benefited from Judy’s expertise. She has taught students of nearly all ages the wonders and ways of ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and darkroom procedures and matting and framing.

Her professional memberships include the Canton Artist League, Art for Women’s Sake (treasurer), Canton, Massillon, Akron and Cleveland museums of art, National Women in the Arts, American Association of University Women and International Sculptors Association.  Her travels have taken her to Greece, France, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Mexico, Canada and Australia.  Her works have been seen in widely varied venues as the Stark County Artists Juried Show at the Massillon Museum in 1999 and in the Florence City Wide Art show in Florence, Italy, in 2006.