Haye

Bio - Artists Statement

Willi Haye

Green Whisper

cast and cold worked glass
15 x 3 x 9.5 inches

Ruby and Gold Reflections

cast and cold worked glass
12 x 6 x 4 inches

Earth Song

cast and cold worked glass
11 x 2 x 8 inches

The Journey Continued

cast and cold worked glass
13 x 2.5 x 8 inches

Winter's Whisper

cast and cold worked glass
15 x 11 x 3 inches

BIO

At age seventeen, Willi bought her first piece of glass while traveling around Europe before starting college. She barely had enough money to get by, but found a piece of glass in Murano, Italy that she had to have, as she was so intrigued by the colors and light. She had no idea that someday the shining, gleaming luster of glass would become her great passion. Willi lived her formative years in the Netherlands, immersed in the world of her parents and their colleagues, who were abstract artists.

Willi spent most of her adult years working as a registered nurse and caring for her family. During this time, she experimented with photography and artistic welding.

While taking a glass sculpture class at the local community college in 2007, she fell in love with the process of kiln-cast glass art and continued to take the class time after time to improve her skills. In 2011 she received a Glass Alliance New Mexico scholarship to study at the renowned Pilchuck Glass School. As her skills improved, she was invited to participate in several shows. In 2016 she attended the Secondary School of Glassmaking in the Czech Republic, studying under Glass Maestro Petr Stacho, which would prove to be a life-changing event. In 2019 she had her first solo exhibition, “Luminous Reflections” at Palette Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2022 she was invited to be a teaching assistant at the Corning Museum of Glass for Czech Glass Maestro, Petr Stacho, and in 2024 she will travel to Bild-Werk Frauenau, Germany to assist Stacho again.

Willi’s work is represented by galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create cast glass sculptures inspired by abstract art and nature. Light is a crucial element in my work, as I visualize how it can be directed through and within a piece to create luminous reflections. During my process, my work often evolves and transforms from its initial conception, the new creation utilizing a balance of my conscious and unconscious life and intuition.