Here I am.....Amanda Taylor and my husband, Lance Taylor.  The smile is generally on my face as enjoying life and all that goes with it is something that I strive very hard for.  Balance....well there are just too many things to do and learn in life and I, of course, would like to do as much as humanly possible.

Creativity and learning has always had been part of my life.  I became interested in ceramics in the mid 1980's, took the courses, bought the equipment, and immersed myself in mud for awhile.  I love working with clay to this day....but alas....the glass bug really got me.

I have always loved stained glass and how the light traveled and moved through the glass.  Stained glass was the first love-hate relationship in the huge field of "GLASS".  My interest in stained glass quickly replaced when I first saw some kiln formed glass in the early 1990's.   A couple of fusing classes with Robert Leatherbarrow in Calgary  in 1994 got me started.....the addiction progressed, slowly at first, but still progressed.  Initially afraid to program the controller on my converted ceramic kiln and the expense for setting up yet another aspect of my art progression allowed me to procrastinate.  If you know me at all, procrastination is NOT on of my traits!!

Something wonderful and inspiring happened to me.....I attended a Warm Glass Conference in Corning , New York where just talking and listening to all the wonderful "glass people" sent me into this wild obsession with learning all I could learn about kilnformed glass.   I bought my first, of many, glass kilns at the same conference and jumped in with both feet, which is one of my unfortunate traits.  My next confidence boost to actually turn on my kiln and use is was when I took a 5 day workshop with Patty Gray and Rebecca Bergsma in Monroe , Washington on Fused Glass Sinks.  Sinks were not JUST what we created.  The learning curve for me was tremendous during those 5 days.  Not only did me make a beautiful sink to take home but we did glass combing, pulling came in a glory hole, tiles, pattern bars....oh the list goes on.  I have met so many people through that wonderful experience that has inspired and pushed me to do more, go larger, and of course BUY more equipment.

I have since moved to Batavia, NY where my husband and I are owners, operators, and instructors of Oatka School of Glass.  We are housed in a 12,000 sq ft warehouse space.  We have 14 kilns of various sizes, a huge selection of glass and other materials, potters wheels, clay slab roller,  clay extruder, 12" and 24" lap wheel, glass lathe, wet belt sander, 3 lampworking stations, and many glass molds.  In March 2009 we became a Bullseye Glass Resource Center where we carry a full product line of Bullseye Glass and much more.

We bring in visiting instructors from around the world once a month to teach workshops in variety of kilnworking techniques.  We also teach kilnformed glass classes ourselves.....in our spare time.  Anyone can come and rent studio that is inspired and has a vision about something wonderful that they would like to create in glass.   We have many options for learning about kilnformed glass.  

We hope to meet some of you some day and please feel free to drop into the studio if you are in the area.....I guarantee you too will be inspired if you have any kind of appreciation of glass.

AMANDA'S MOTTO:  GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!