Press
Port
City
Life
Magazine,
July/August
2003
When
she
was
an
art
student
in
Portland,
Laura
Fuller
had
an
urge
to
solder
a
bottle
into
a
stained
glass
art
project
she
was
working
on.
She
asked
her
instructor,
and
was
told,
"Oh
no,
you
can't
do
it."
She
didn't
put
the
bottle
in
her
work
that
day,
but
the
urge
persisted,
and
eventually
she
gave
in
to
her
artistic
impulse.
She
started
by
incorporating
bottles
into
small
stained
glass
windows
and
giving
them
as
gifts
to
friends.
Eventually,
people
started
to
ask
her
to
make
pieces.
Today
Fuller's
signature
style
of
stained
glass
work
is
exhibited
and
sought
after
around
New
England,
New
York
City
and
the
South.
Fuller's
unique
works
of
art
vary
in
size
and
style,
but
all
contain
glass
containers,
bottle
stoppers,
prisms,
eyeglasses
and
other
"found
objects".
Her
smaller
pieces
include
angels
made
from
sea
glass
and
small
window
or
wall
hangings
that
measure
about
eight
inches
square.
Most
of
her
work
is
larger,
however.
There
is
great
variety
in
the
composition
and
color
schemes
of
her
work
as
well.
Some
are
clean
and
simple
with
clear
glass,
or
muted
emerald-,
sapphire-,
and
aquamarine-toned
glass,
while
others
are
reminiscent
of
classic
stained
glass
church
windows
in
color,
with
bold
jumbles
of
royal
blue,
deep
greens,
reds
and
browns.
The
quality
of
the
glass–whether
it's
thick
tumbled
chunks
of
blue
glass
or
a
delicate
slice
of
wavy
clear
glass–lends
a
distinctive
look
to
each
piece.
When
she
was
a
child,
growing
up
in
Bath,
Fuller
always
loved
to
draw.
She
came
from
an
artistic
family.
Her
father
was
a
draftsman,
and
her
mother
sewed
stuffed
animals,
puppets
and
clothes
for
Fuller
and
her
siblings.
After
she
graduated
from
Morse
High
School,
she
packed
her
bags
and
headed
for
Paris.
She
lived
in
the
Latin
Quarter,
worked
as
an
au
pair,
and
studied
art
history
and
French
at
the
Sorbonne.
"I
didn't
know
what
I
wanted
to
do,
but
I
always
had
a
thing
for
France.
i
just
wanted
to
go.
My
parents
were
terrific
about
my
decision.
i
got
luggage
for
a
high
school
graduation
gift,"
she
says.
Returning
home
after
a
year
in
Paris,
Fuller
moved
to
Portland
and
continued
her
studies
at
the
University
of
Southern
Maine
and
the
Maine
College
of
Art.
Her
introduction
to
the
art
of
stained
glass
making
was
at
Portland's
Phoenix
Studio.
Fuller
works
in
a
sunny
600-square
foot
studio
in
the
State
Theater
Building.
Stained
glass
works
hang
in
the
windows
and
projects
in
various
stages
of
completion
are
everywhere,
on
tables
and
on
the
floor.
One
wall
looks
like
an
old-fashioned
antiques
store,
lined
with
shelves
of
neatly
arranged
bottles,
ceramic
figurines,
stacks
of
sheet
glass,
and
blocks
of
different
colored
glass.
Caches
of
other
objects
are
piled
in
boxes.
Two
chandeliers,
which
are
slowly
losing
their
prisms
to
to
Fuller's
artwork,
are
near
a
work
table.
At
the
other
end
of
her
studio
there
is
a
full
drum
set,
standing
microphones
and
amplifiers.
This
is
where
Fuller
takes
a
break
from
the
delicate
work
of
stained
glass
making
and
indulges
in
a
different
art
form:
music.
Fuller
is
the
drummer
for
a
local
band
called
"The
Shakes."
Two
nights
a
week,
she
jams
with
Bart
Joy,
Tommy
Dinsmore,
and
John
Pelzinski
in
her
studio.
She
describes
their
musical
style
as
"Elvis
Costello
meets
The
Velvet
Underground."
They
play
gigs
around
Portland
and
Boston.
"When
I'm
working
with
glass
I
have
to
be
so
careful
not
to
break
anything.
It's
a
great
release
to
wander
over
to
the
other
side
of
the
studio
and
bang
on
the
drums,"
she
says.
Aside
from
some
occasional
drum
banging,
her
days
are
spent
with
the
stained
glass.
Fuller
finds
her
bottles
and
other
objects
when
she
walks
the
beaches
in
the
area
or
at
flea
markets,
and
friends
know
she's
a
great
source
for
recycling
broken
glass.
"Friends
sometimes
leave
beautiful
broken
bottles
for
me
in
a
paper
bag
outside
my
studio
door,"
she
says.
Martha
Entwistle
---------------
