LEAH NIETZ has been working with glass for over 20 years. She specializes in soft glass beads, pendants, perfume bottles, and mandalas. Over the last four years she has been expanding her work to include goblets and flower bowls. Leah draws much of her inspiration for her glass from nature and happy accidents. Friend and fellow artist, Gini Behrendt, once advised her to “Never waste a good piece of glass”. She has carried that advice throughout her career creating flowers from would be vessels and discovering the grand optical illusions unique to glass. Leah was the commemorative artist for the ISGB Gathering in 2020 and was one of ten artists selected to contribute to Susan Richards’s Presidential Collection at the Corning Museum of Glass in 2022. Her work has been published in a variety of publications including Bead & Button magazine, Glass Art® magazine, The Soda Lime Times and Jewelry Affaire magazine. Her works are held in private collections in countries throughout the world, including the United States, Canada, Malaysia, The United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and Singapore. Her teaching experience includes Introduction to Lampwork Glass at The Toledo Museum of Art from 2004-2008, a Vessels and Bottles online class premiering during the ISGB Gathering in 2020, Blown Pendants, a Vessels and Bottles class and a Sea Creatures class at Snow Farm in Massachusetts in 2021, a Vessels and Bottles class and the premier of a Mandala class at Public Glass Work in Kansas in 2023.