During college I drove across the country two times from Boston to Seattle with my boyfriend Dan, driving a small truck we slept in with no air conditioning. In many cities we checked the Yellow Pages for plate glass fabrication shops. Most had been in business 50 years; owned by people who used plate glass and Vitrolite, an opaque colored glass produced from 1915 to 1947. They shaped and polished the glass with machinery to make table tops, doors, interior walls, and building facades like the red of Woolworths and the Art Deco pink and black ice cream parlors. Sometimes we “scored” untouched 4 x 8 foot sheets, but mostly found smaller, salvaged pieces with broken edges or badly scratched surfaces. We made the best deals we could, bought every color we could find, and had it shipped to Massachusetts. I began using Vitrolite in my work when I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1976. The metals I use have a limited range of colors, and I felt the need to have more color in my art. I was drawn toward the broad palette of the Vitrolite; with its rich colors and pastel tones. Using glass instead of precious stones stems from my ability to find or make any color and create any shape I imagine. By freeing myself from tradition I am able to compose with a sense of exploration, which results in the pleasure of building a piece that is completely my own. Linda MacNeil 36 STRIPES