John & Heather Fields
John Fields became fascinated with glass in the early 1970’s while studying business at the University of Arkansas. “I took a stained glass course to alleviate some of the boredom. I made a sun catcher and was hooked.” On his own, John studied the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany and fabricated reproduction stained glass windows and lamps for a growing following. Realizing that his future lay in an art form over 2000 years old, John took a glassblowing class at Pratt in Seattle.
Heather graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in 1986. “I wandered into the glassblowing studio one day and there was no turning back. I was fascinated with molten glass.” After graduating, Heather worked at the Jamestown Glass House in Colonial National Historical Park, demonstrating off- hand glass blowing to park visitors.
“I stayed at Jamestown long enough to build a foundation in the basics of my craft, then set a goal to move to the Northwest, the site of the most innovative glass-work in the country.”
Heather and John met in Portland and began working together in 1995. “ While assisting John, I had a chance to develop my own body of work, quite different than his. John’s work is a more painterly representation of nature. His floral landscapes and motifs are influenced by his admiration of Tiffany and long time immersion in stained glass. I also draw from the natural world, but in a less literal way. I refine and reflect natural images by using organic patterns and luminous colors.”
Because Heather and John shared a workspace their individual ways of seeing things began to show the influence of one another’s work. A harmonious product line emerged. “We were more successful as a team than as individual studios”, relates Heather. Our relationship evolved, creating Fields & Fields Blown Glass, as well as two wonderful children.
