by Tom Lohr
The colored glass sparkles in various stages of work and calls you to explore more as you enter Suely Lohr’s studio in Argyle.
Suely, a fused glass artist, is a member of the Cross Timbers Artist Guild. The guild members open their studios to the public one weekend each November. This year, the Open Studio Tour will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 11 & 12.
At age 15, Suely emigrated with her parents from Sao Paulo, Brazil to New York City, and became interested in art in high school. She married a year after high school and moved to Dallas, eventually becoming the Events Coordinator for the Dallas Museum of Art.
Three children, a career in Human Resources, and several decades later, having dabbled in various art mediums, she found mosaics. Mosaics offered her so many choices. She did portraits, tile reproductions of famous paintings, tropical scenes, and contemporary designs.
Still enjoying working with mediums she had worked with previously, she was making several pottery pieces for a friend in the studio of Eric Orr, a potter and another member of the Cross Timbers Artist Guild. Eric, at the time, was starting to experiment with fused glass. Seeing the vibrant colors and the design possibilities, Suely was hooked. After experimenting with a very small kiln for a short while, she purchased a larger kiln. Mosaics had given way to Fused Glass.
It didn’t take long for an additional even larger kiln to find its way into the studio. Tom, her husband, a wood turner and also a member of the Guild, found he was losing space in their shared studio. With continuing education and experience, the complexity and size of Suely’s projects grew. Her initial work was mostly functional “slumped” pieces. “Draped” and other decorative forms followed. Stainless steel, aluminum, rusted steel, and wood found their way into her work as a background for wall pieces. This, moved her from just a fused glass artist to becoming what is referred to in the art world as a Mixed Media Artist.
Suely can become lost in her studio. It’s the place where she can relax and let her creativity run free. Time doesn’t seem to exist for her when she is there. This has been a wonderful “get away” for her. Shortly after her retirement from Verizon, she was elected to join the board of Our Daily Bread, the soup kitchen for the homeless in Denton. She became the President of the board a year later and served in that position for four years, ushering the organization into their own 501c3 non-profit status. She now has more time to spend in the studio.
She participates in many juried art shows around Dallas including Denton Arts and Jazz. You can see more of Suely’s work, information about the Open Studio Tour as well as the profiles and pictures of the work of the other members of the Cross Timbers Artist Guild at crosstimbersarts.com.
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