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"Free Falling: Taking the Journey"

Glasswork by Robin Clow. Presented by the Steamboat Springs Arts Council

Steamboat Springs — On a chalkboard in her warehouse studio, glass artist Robin Clow has neatly printed words of encouragement:

"Make it your own. Everything matters. Surprise and delight. Embrace resistance. Leave your mark. Openness. Movement. Natural color. Unique shape."

The words guided Clow through her first full art exhibition, a collection of fused glass wall hangings and sculpture that opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Depot Art Center.

Several months in the making, the show stretched Clow's tendency to do test after test on small pieces of glass before she commits to an entire piece. In plastic containers throughout her studio, Clow has stored color palettes with formulas for tinted glass written on the back, shapes and ideas that eventually would lead to multi-layered, kiln-formed glass bowls.

"I seldom put something together, fuse it and call it good," Clow said, explaining her meticulous process for melting colored pieces of glass into intricate designs and shapes. Her familiarity with putting glass in a kiln several times to give a piece its shape before finishing it with a sander and sandblaster comes from about seven years of careful testing.

"The first few years, I really did not have beginner's luck," Clow said. "It was a tough learning curve."

When she started, many types and colors of manufactured glass were not compatible in a 1,500-degree kiln, and there weren't many online support groups or Web sites dedicated to the craft.

"I broke just about everything I touched when I first started this. But it was like, 'I'm not giving up,'" she said.

Putting together an exhibit of unique glasswork was no small task for Clow, who purposely did not commit to a theme when she presented the idea for a show to Linda Laughlin, visual arts director for the Steamboat Springs Arts Council.

"The biggest challenge was doing work that was unique to me. There are techniques out there, and everyone tends to use the same techniques over and over again. So I've been trying very hard to find my own voice," Clow said.

"I learned a lot this summer. I for the first time have a direction that I want to work toward."