We had the good fortune of connecting with Janis Miltenberger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janis, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Sticking with it. Dealing with any problems that arise and finding strategies that keep the hands on process of making the work, relevant to who I am. My focus remains on my curiosity and interest, and because of that I continue to explore and innovate. This has been the core of what drives my personal expression.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of my driving forces is curiosity. I wouldn’t describe it as a – relentless urge to unravel the mysteries of the universe – , no, more like I want to parse out all of my/our inner working parts. Combining curiosity and actual hands on, working with the material, has given me a lot of trust in the process. Often one piece or series, leads to the next, and as I work, I sense the possibilities.

Myths, stories and fables have always fascinated me. There are multi layers within these stories. The story is at first entertaining, engaging, visual and visceral but it also has meaning beyond the surface, using a common language of symbolism, the fable often seeps in where we least expect it, and ends up suggesting caution and awareness of human traits and behaviors (or misbehaviors).

Perhaps you could say that my work also attempts to touch on different layers. I want the work to be a seductive invitation for the viewer to come in closer, but I also want my audience to get a hint, a taste, of the narrative that I fuse together. For instance my Doctrine of Signatures series visually combines the concepts of c.40-90 AD pharmacopeia and indigenous societies search for healing. I depict medicinal plants as well as the organs they heal.

I believe I function best when drawn into a subject matter, and find a correlation with the subject/idea and how I am handling and manipulating the glass.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friends most of all want connection, then next would be good food, beautiful scenery, hot springs and hiking with our dogs!

We would start off in my home, with a great dinner prepared by my husband (artist/chef), a soak in the hot tub and a chat in which we make our world right again. The following day we would head to the mountains on the Olympic peninsula , along the way shopping for some tasty snacks, some dog walks and ending in a lodge in the mountains with hot pools. The following day a long hike with views of vistas heading west out to the coast. The third day we would head to the coast, there are some beautiful walks near La Push, and we would splurge and stay in one of the cabins there, cooking ourselves a delicious meal. The following day exploring the towns south down the coast, eating seafood, hunting through funky thrift stores, singing old songs and listening to some audio book.

Most of all relaxing and really being seen.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Great question! My first love was ceramics, and in college I had the great luck to have a ceramics mentor and professor, Nancy Selvin. Nancy not only brought accomplished and well known ceramic artists to demonstrate and lecture into the department, but she also had a wonderfully messy, packed, ceramics office, full of art magazines. Between classes and studio work, I could often be found holed up in the office perusing those pages.

Remember this was late 1970’s, and there were several high quality magazines available, those glossy paged publications introduced me to the larger art world. As a young person driven to create, I had no idea how to move my interest in ceramics into a vocation, but in these magazines, I saw others had made a career from art.

It was an Art In America cover photo which caught my eye, there was an incredible glass (crazy quilt) murrini holiday ornament that was featured. This Christmas tree ornament was on President Mondale’s tree at the White House. I audibly admired the cover photo to Nancy, expressing my amazement and desire to learn glass, and it was then that she informed me that she knew the artist who made the ornament (Richard Marquis) and would inquire if he wanted an apprentice. Serendipity? Fate? Chance? Nah, it was Nancy’s genuine desire to help young artists. I ended up apprenticing with Dick for three years.

Website: http://www.janismiltenberger.com, https://www.jansiglass.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vitrovixen/, https://www.instagram.com/jansiglass/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janis.miltenberger/, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075865191141 

Other: Just a note, I have both an Artist website a well as my production trade name website, Jansi Glass.

Image Credits
Jmmportrait – Lynn Thompson Exuberance Elation QuietCompanion QuietBreath – Peter Kuhnlein DividingLine BitterLuck JanisMiltenbergerWCU – Steve Mann

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