About the Artist Pam Riepe

My journey into the realm of stained glass began with a log cabin that my husband and I built on a lake in Minnesota over 20 years ago. I made my first stained glass piece for a bedroom widow, with the hope that I would be awakened by beautiful colors in the morning. The ambiance I was hoping for didn't happen because of the surrounding trees, but my passion for stained glass was rooted.

When I look at my glass on display, I see my whole emotional life in front of me. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, I remembered all of the times I had reminded my art students that art is very therapeutic. However, when your life hits a brick wall, it is hard to pay attention to that advice.

Once we began to live with cancer, I tried to focus on healing thoughts in my art. Thus, enter the turtle, the symbol of healing and longevity in many cultures. For me, the whole cancer experience centered around turtle images. While chemotherapy and radiation were essential to my husband's recovery, the turtle was truly essential to mine. I joke with my husband now that it wasn't the chemotherapy and radiation that cured him, but it was the turtles--for me it was!

My art has evolved over time as I have. Now that my husband is cancer-free and I'm able to let go of the protective bubble I had surrounded myself with, my art has taken a different path. My current pieces are more abstract and whimsical. I have incorporated sandblasted images and copper embellishments into my art.

However, I always feel that you can never have too many turtles. Cancer is never far from my mind; especially when my life is going along a little better than I think I deserve and I realize that I'm appreciating it a little less than I should.

I try to appreciate every day to the fullest and hope it shows in my art.