PHOTOS: Amy Zoulek Shows Off Her Glass Creations

Amy Zoulek writes:

Throughout my academic career I have taken various art classes. It started with general classes in elementary and middle school to more advanced and specialized classes in high school.

As a freshman, I took the Art Survey class where I worked on my painting, drawing, and basic sculpting skills. After taking this class, I found that I wanted to continue studying art, but more specifically glass. My mom had always practiced stained glass when I was little, and I knew the school had the program, which is very rare in a high school, so I wanted to try it.

I started by taking the Beginners Stained Glass class, and then moved up to Advanced Glass, and now I am currently in an Independent Study Glass class. In the future, I do not plan to pursue a career with art or stained glass, but I don’t ever plan to stop doing it. I have learned a great deal of skills from all of these art classes and I want to be able to apply what I have learned as well as my creativity to a future career and hobby somehow.

Through all of these art classes, I have had many special experiences. The best one would have to be having my work displayed in the Milwaukee Art Museum downtown. In 2010 and 2012 I won a Scholastic Art Award: Silver and Gold Key.

One of the honors of winning this award is to have your art work displayed in the Art Museum in a special display recognizing all of the winners from around the state of Wisconsin. It was such an honor to win this award, not once, but twice. I was also excited to have one of the few glass pieces in the display and be able to represent my school in such a positive way.

In my work I tend to favor a more geometric style. I also enjoy working with primary colors or a single color scheme. I use these styles mainly because I like the uniform look they portray. Even though it may be a simple design, it still depicts a certain kind of elegance and sophistication.

I draw most of my inspiration for these kinds of pieces from Frank Lloyd Wright. His work, overall, mimics the repetition and simplicity of nature. In his glass work, he only used what he needed to; a simple burst of color in a pattern of clear and straight lines to create an elegant image.