Daily Inspiration: Meet Elaine Rettger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Rettger.

Hi Elaine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Elaine Rettger was born in northern Ohio. From a young age, she loved the vibrancy of nature, finding particular joy in the variety of flowers and plants in her neighbor’s garden, which bloomed all summer.
She also enjoyed arts and crafts, creating and drawing. She received a Liberal Arts and Sciences degree from Purdue University with a double major in Graphic Design and Industrial Design. After graduating, she moved to Arizona and worked as a graphic designer, creating artistic, balanced compositions for marketing materials.
Fascinated by the properties of glass, she apprenticed for a glassblower in the early 2000s. After that, she took glass technique classes all over the U.S., including Bullseye Glass in Portland and Urban Glass in New York. She has recently taken courses from international artists to improve her sense of design and glass forming skills. Elaine purchased her first kiln in 2004 and began working with kiln-formed glass.
The fleeting beauty of leaves and plants inspires Elaine’s recent work. She is also fascinated by the shapes they take and how they respond to their surrounding environment. Her vision is to capture a moment in time, representing color, movement, shape and transition. Her graphic design background helps inform the composition, layout and placement of elements to achieve a harmonious outcome with her glass creations.
Her signature styles are glass leaves and watercolor powder wafer constructions. Glass leaves are carefully crafted from a natural leaf, taking more than 20 hours to create. An impression mold of clay and plaster is the first step in the process. The molds are filled with glass powder and fused at temperatures exceeding 1200 degrees for more than six hours. Next, the leaves are draped over refractory material to provide depth and movement, again fused for over six hours. A final fusing to a glass background offers stability and strength.
Moving to a similar related style, watercolor glass attempts to achieve watercolor painting with glass powders. Sheets of glass powder are fired at low temperatures up to 1280 degrees. The sheets of glass powder, some as thin as a single grain of glass powder, are broken and arranged in designs to represent landscapes, nature or abstract compositions. Using reductionist techniques, color fields represent shapes, value and tone. The designs are not literal but visual interpretations, creating a unique view. After assembly, the wafers are fired up to 1280 degrees on a base piece of glass to stabilize the construction. Sometimes the glass wafers move and shift during firing. Because the wafers are so thin, layering the wafers produces transparency, resulting in a watercolor-style effect.
Shows and events:
2025: New Member show, Sonoran Arts League
2025: Hot Art-Cool Show at Desert Foothills Gallery, Sonoran Arts League
2025: Full Circle, Online Exhibition, Contemporary Glass Society
2025: Perspectives of Greater Phoenix, Greater Phoenix Economic Council
2025: Shades of Blue, Online Exhibition, Camelback Gallery
2025: Light and Dark, Online Exhibition, Contemporary Glass Society
2024: Shades of Red, Gold Award, Online Exhibition, Camelback Gallery
2024: Best in Medium Finalist, Online Exhibition, Camelback Gallery
2024: Wabi-Sabi Exhibition, Patty McMullen-Mikles Art Gallery
2024: Flora and Fauna Exhibition, Yavapai College Patty McMullen-Mikles Art Gallery
2024: Cycles of Life, Online Exhibition, Contemporary Glass Society

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been slow and sometimes interrupted for many years. Working full-time as a freelance designer and raising a family of four children with my husband took me away from my creative endeavors for almost two decades. Another detour included getting my Master’s and Ph.D. while transitioning to a full-time job at Arizona State University. In 2017, after completing my Ph.D. I slowly returned to glasswork, finding that the industry had changed dramatically. What was once a niche creative area was now filled with hobbyists. I struggled to find my style and voice, determined not to churn factory-like pieces or become an assembly-line crafter who fulfills hundreds of orders for the same item. I continuously experiment with new ideas, techniques and glass firing schedules to hone my craft. I’ve returned to some of my early art and design skills to practice drawing and painting to help inform my glass work and to ensure that what I am creating is original and expresses my ideas. I still have much to learn and strive to improve my ideas and concepts while using a unique approach to fused glass.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve worked as a design professional and web administrator for most of my life. I’ve always had a passion for art, design, photography and glass.
I worked as an apprentice in a hot shop in the early 2000s. I now specialize in kiln-formed glass artwork and have pursued that since 2004, when I purchased my first kiln.
I’m most proud of my recent watercolor-style glass fusions. I strive to achieve the fluidity and transparency of watercolor painting, but with glass powder. I think this style sets me apart from other artists because each piece is unique and cannot be easily replicated.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m an avid swimmer. I met my husband on a swim team, and we still participate in a master’s swim team. I usually swim more than 12,000 yards a week.

Pricing:

• Low end pricing from the $100
• High end pricing from $2000

Contact Info:

• Website: https://remeltglass.com
• Instagram: remelt_glass
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReMeltGlassArt/
• Youtube: @elaineret
• Other: Personal facebook https://www.facebook.com/elaine.rettger/

Image Credits
All images courtesy of the artist, Elaine Rettger