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About this Instructor:
Susan
Morgan has lived in the small town of Richwood, NJ all her
life. Her ancestors lived in and around Gloucester County
for generations. On her father's side were the Duffield's,
farmers working the land. On her mother's side were the
Stangers, glass workers who came from Germany. In 1779 the
Stangers settled in a sandy, wooded area in South Jersey and
started a glass factory. Susan saw their glass products and
heard their story all her life. That sandy, wooded area is
now know as "Glassboro".
In 1984, out of college and
working for a veterinarian, Susan took a class in stained
glass. She found that she loved to design, cut, and solder
the glass to make custom widows, lamps, and more. Over the
next 6 years as Susan continued to work with stained glass,
she found that the MANY glass scraps her craft could not be
recycled. Instead, they would most likely end up in a
landfill somewhere! Susan felt that this was such a waste of
glass AND land!!! So in 1991 Susan took an introduction to
lampworking class at Salem County Community College. The
first day of class she arrived with a handful of glass
scraps and asked the instructor if she could use them? The
instructor chuckled but still showed her how to melt the
glass scraps into useable rods. She found that lampworking
opened a whole new world for her. Learning to melt, twist,
and shape the glass seemed to be her heritage. From this,
she was then able to combine lampworking and fusing with her
knowledge of stained glass. All of which allows her to
continue the glass tradition that is in her blood, which is
both a thrill and an honor for Susan.
Susan believes, "Any scrap
of glass is just beads that haven't been made yet! From a
piece of cullet uncovered where a glass factory stood over
60 years ago to Grandma's broken vase, to yard sale
treasures to wine bottles.... any glass should be beads
rather than landfill!" In some of her pieces you may see the
sand from her backyard that enticed the Stanger Brothers to
stay in south Jersey.
Susan has worked at
Wheaton Arts & Cultural Center,
since 1992. Her days are spent working with hot
glass and explaining the process to the Village's visitors.
After a day of playing at the torch she goes home to her
husband of 19 years, her three sons and two dogs.
While explaining her passion
for recycling Susan met a board member from Kahuna Valley in
Kappa, Hawaii. In November 2005, Susan will travel to Hawaii
to participate in the Kaua'i Peace Project teaching Hawaiian
children her love of the Earth and the importance of
recycling.
Susan is a member of the
International Society of Glass Beadmakers. |