Glass sculptures by Shayna Leib

Wind and Water series. White Glass sculptures by Shayna Leib, American artist

Glass sculptures by Shayna Leib
American artist Shayna Leib grew up in San Luis Obispo, California. She earned a bachelor’s degree at hometown California Polytechnic University in philosophy, with minors in glass and literature. In 2003 she earned her MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in glass and metal. According to Leib, she’s married to glass, but has an affair with metal.
In particular, in her “Wind and Water” series Shayna Leib gives visual form to wind and water by focusing on the patterns that they create. Meanwhile, each of her pieces takes nearly a month to create. In fact, it is a painstaking process that begins with pulling individual 30-50 foot segments of glass, a step that’s repeated 8 to 200 times depending on the scale of the piece.

Closeup – Glass sculpture by American artist Shayna Leib

Shayna Leib worked as a metal-smith in Ronald Hayes Pearson’s studio in Maine. Then, she returned to her alma mater and worked as a teacher. Also, she taught in Madison for a year (2005). Finally, the artist chose to work in her studio full time. And while she has a portfolio of striking functional pieces in glass, along with jewelry and hollow-ware, Wind and Water consumes most of her time now.