Sharry Miller

Baking Philosophy

No Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Bread recipe today. Instead, since I'd offered to share my sourdough starter with a young friend, I thought I'd experiment with it. On the plus side, this means that you can access the recipe yourself without having to buy a baking tome. For some reason, I had scones on my brain this morning. I have a recipe I've used before and like, but since I had the sourdough... Read more →

St. Francis Xavier and Love - Glass Experiments

I've been meaning to share with you a project I completed a couple of months ago. It was a commission for a woman who wanted to donate an icon of St. Francis Xavier to SFX Catholic Church in Valdez, Alaska in honor of her mother. She'd heard about my glasswork (but apparently had never seen it - I'm not sure how in this tiny town), and asked me to make a stained glass window. My... Read more →

Ego Bashing

It never ceases to amaze me the ways in which I can contrive to crush my own spirit. I'm sure I've written about this before, so forgive me if I'm being redundant. There's been a lot of press over the years about how we need to ensure our children's self-esteem is kept high, how the little things we say to other people inadvertently tear them down, how, essentially, we're all responsible for creating a kinder,... Read more →

Salmon as Public Art

I promised a few months ago that I'd write a post to share my first public art project - sorry for the wait. I was lucky enough to be chosen last February to create one of the public art installations for the new Gilson Middle School in Valdez. As wonderful as I may think I am, I suspect the main reason my project was chosen was because I proposed to work with the middle school... Read more →

Photorealistic Imagery in Glass

Serious overload. My brain is mush, and I'm only halfway through my workshops at the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas. I was here three years ago, and I remember having the same sense of impending meltdown. It's worth it, though. I spent the last two days in Gail Stouffer's class Making Your Mark. We learned several methods for getting photorealistic (or sort of, anyway) images in fused glass pieces using enamels. A... Read more →

Banner Day

Yesterday was a fabulous day. To begin with, I went for my first bike ride since I sprained my knees two weeks ago. I had to take it easy, but it was still a marvelous ride in the sunshine. I was bluntly reminded that it's not really quite spring yet, however, when I rode into the shadow of the mountain to the south of Port Valdez. Brrr! The photos below may be uninspiring, but hidden... Read more →

Leaping Led to Excitement

"Ron, this is Sharry Miller. She's the artist," the middle school principal said to the construction manager. Ron introduced me the same way to the construction foreman. I failed to resist rolling my eyes as I shook hands and exchanged nice-to-meet-yous with both men. "The artist" just sounded so pretentious. In this case, however, I suppose it was appropriate. I was at Valdez's still-under-construction middle school to consult about lighting the artwork that will be... Read more →

Leaping

My heart is palpitating, my stomach is fluttering, and my hands are shaking. I just took a big leap in my creative life, and now I need a stiff drink. I also now need to apologize to you. I'm going to leave you hanging and not tell you what this leap was. I should be able to in about three weeks, but for now I'm going to keep mum and not jinx myself. I promise,... Read more →

My Inner Child Deserves a Spanking

Do you ever have those moments when you hear exactly what you need to hear at the time you need to hear it? Sometimes it's a particularly apropos fortune cookie fortune. Other times it's a hokey picture and inspirational saying shared on Facebook. Today, for me, it was a blog post by Dar Hosta. In her weekly post today, Hosta referenced the writings of Leo Babauta of the blog Zen Habits. Most particularly, she talked... Read more →

Glass Class Fun

Admittedly, I sometimes am glad when I offer a glass class and no one signs up for it. It's just one less thing I have to do. On the flip side, every time I teach a class I have fun, and leave inspired to keep creating. My students almost always give me great ideas to work from. This past week, I had the privilege of doing two classes. On Thursday, Mrs. Beck asked me to... Read more →