Meet Culotta Creations

Where are you from and how does that affect your work?
I grew up in Long Beach, California as an only child & was fortunate enough to be exposed to a few key elements that would heavily influence my life: travel, food, music and art. I earned my BFA in Fine Art Photography and have explored all different mediums of art throughout the past few decades.

Speaking of influences, who/what are your biggest artistic influences?
I am highly influenced by geometric & organic architecture, Art Deco, minimalism & mixed sacred geometry.

We can definitely see how these influences impact your work. How do you define success as an artist?
Being an artist is quite a dynamic experience in many aspects. I think the hardest part can be maintaining confidence throughout the challenging periods we all experience at one point or another.

Good point. How have you developed your skill at your craft?

I have always been open to exploring creative skills. One day in 2014 I walked by a stained glass store & decided I wanted to try it out. I bought a bunch of supplies, watched a few videos, made an embarrassingly terrible piece & immediately fell in love. I did not have the time outside of my full time job to take a class and I dedicated every free moment to teaching myself through trial and error. For two years I made many pieces & gave them away as gifts. I obsessively absorbed any information I could find about the craft & challenged myself to elevate my skill level and develop a unique style.

That is great! What is the hardest part of your creation process?
Saying no! My long career in hospitality (before I quit to be a full time artist) has carried over into this constant struggle to want to take on EVERY request no matter what the circumstance. I am getting better, but still need to say no more often to things that may not serve me (my time, my energy, my design style).

Realizing that is the first step! How has your style changed over time?
It’s really interesting to look back over the past 8 years & identify how my design aesthetic/style has developed. I have always been drawn to geometric forms & when I started working with glass that is all I saw - colors as shapes, individual pieces creating a whole, in its simplest form. I don’t think my style changed much over time within this basic element, but my use and appreciation of color has grown from a monochromatic representation into a full balance & appreciation of how light & texture affect design impact. The patchwork design was the main one that has evolved over time specifically in the way I can just flow with the colors & shapes to create a balanced result, and the skill level is deceivingly difficult.

Patience I am sure is needed. What’s the best thing about being an artist?

My favorite thing about being an artist is to create things that bring joy to others, especially the collaboration process when working with clients on custom projects.

How about a favorite item you have created?

Choosing a favorite creation is hard! There are those that are my favorites because they challenged me towards growth, those that I developed new techniques to accomplish a desired result, and those that just felt like the “best” creation to date. The most meaningful item that I have created is a large rainbow sun panel for a loyal client whom I have previously made some rainbow color way panels. For this sister panel to the others, I was given some general guidance & allowed the freedom to push the design where it “wanted” to go. I was working on this panel just after my father’s passing & was very present to the spiritual embodiment of this particular design, the sun shining its rainbow rays.

We hear you helped create an important piece for this year’s Burning Man. Given that the festival didn’t quite go as planned this year, what happened with your art?  How did it feel to be a part of that?

This year I had the extraordinary opportunity to create a stained glass heart for The Man at Burning Man.   I was told by the crew that every year there is some sort of heart form installed inside The Man, however it is never visible.  This year the heart was intended to symbolize an extremely special commemoration for a longtime member & engineer of the build crew.  For the first time, the heart would be illuminated within this massive structure & the heart would beat with a pulsing light until it burned in front of 70,000 people.  I put more love into this heart than anything I have ever created in 10 years of glassing, knowing that it was being created to live a very short & sacred life.  With the rains that essentially shut the festival down for a few days, the scheduled burn night was postponed - the first time in the history of the event that The Man did not burn on Saturday night.  Watching it burn two nights later was about as cathartic an experience as you can imagine, all while sharing it with tens of thousands of people. 

The Heart is absolutely stunning. Did it survive the burn? 

I was told the next day that someone found some fused glass remnants in the still smoldering ash pile at the base of the man. 

I wonder if that person knows what that little object once was, what it symbolized and how it changed me as an artist. 

Rainbow Sun Panel

The Heart for Burning Man

This sounds like such an incredible & special opportunity. What is a typical day like in the studio for you?

I am very lucky to work out of my home studio workshop space which is a separate building on our property, so I get the benefit of "going to work" but can always be surprise visited by my dogs & chickens, which makes for a pretty silly daily "routine". There are always a minimum of a half dozen projects in progress, ranging from large window panels to a variety of custom design collaborations to decor & jewelry items for the few wholesale accounts I work with. I also am always creating stock for my online shop, items that are always available for purchase. I love my "job" so much that it can be challenging at times to "turn it off" with a set schedule, but I try to stick to 9 hours a day on average. I am also quite fortunate to have some helping hands from two local stained glass artists who help with the massive amount of detail work involved in this craft, such as hours upon hours of grinding, cleaning, polishing & packaging.

What do you love most about Pasadena?

Pasadena has some really incredible history! I particularly love the historic architecture throughout the city, but especially the stunning American Craftsman examples coming out of the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts. There are so many extraordinary examples of stained glass, the Gamble House being the most famous and accessible.

What will you be bringing to Jackalope?

I will be bringing some specialty creations just for the occasion. In addition to a wide range of colorful suncatchers, window decor & ornaments perfect for gifts, I will have some unique larger panels and mobiles that I only create for the Jackalope shows.

Anything special you’d like to add?
I am thrilled to be participating in Jackalope Artisan Fair again! When I first became a vendor several years ago I was just starting out in my journey of figuring out how to sell my work & I gained such a valuable experience from participating in these events & found genuine support from the maker community & the loyal buyers who come to support this unique event.

Catch Culotta Creations at Jackalope Pasadena on November 18th & 19th!

Where to see more of Culotta Creations:

Website | www.culottacreations.com

Instagram | @culottacreations