Cowgirl Karen wishing she
was on horseback, riding
through the southwest!
Glass Artist Bio: Karen Robbins
Karen began her formal art education working on theater and film productions at the University of Massachusetts in the early 1980's. She worked in several areas of theater arts from painting and designing sets to designing costumes and makeup. In addition to theater arts, she also studied fine art, drawing and painting. Since the Massachusetts winters proved to be too cold, in 1986, Karen transferred to the University of California where she pursued a career in film production. At UCSC she earned a bachelors degree in film and continued to work in the film and video production industry in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Karen had a history of working in the arts but had not experienced the art of glassblowing until she met Dana at San Jose State. She came across the glass department at an open studio tour in 1990. Karen saw Dana working with hot glass and was captivated by this man who was playing with fire. She immediately thought that Dana and his glass blowing skills would be a great subject for a video production. Karen's first experiences with hot glass were from behind the camera, capturing Dana at work, learning the process and this art form from a different perspective.
After studying the process from behind the camera, Karen finally decided she wanted to learn how to blow glass. In the summer of 1995, Karen had an opportunity to work at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA. It was here that Karen picked up a blow pipe and gathered hot molten glass for the first time. Attending Pilchuck is said to be a life-altering experience, and it was. After spending 6 weeks at the school, Karen had been "bitten by the glass bug" and became deeply inspired to work with hot glass as a means for creative expression.
When Karen returned to California, in the fall of 1995, she and Dana were married. The plans were in place to build a home and glass studio on Dana's great grandfather's old family ranch. They arrived at the ranch October 1996. This was the beginning of a lifelong partnership and the start of their art business, Robbins Ranch Art Glass. Karen and Dana have been working together at their art business since 1998. Karen and Dana currently make art glass fulltime, creating many functional and decorative hand blown and fused glass art pieces. They now travel around the Southwest to sell their work, participating in over 20 arts & crafts festivals every year. A limited selection of their glass is also available in local New Mexico galleries.