Artist of the Month: Glass Club Featured Artists

Lori Hartsook, Phyllis Breitenborn, and Millie Burrows

Karla Heinz

Featured this month are Lori Hartsook, Phyllis Breitenborn, and Millie Burrows. These three ladies have a common thread in that they all continue to do glass works, and have, since the beginning of the glass program. In addition, all three started with a specific type of glass and still use that glass to this day, while most of the other members have switched to a newer type of glass.

Lori Hartsook and her husband purchased their home in PebbleCreek (PC) in 2003 as snowbirds, and continue to split their time between PC and Des Moines, Iowa. Golf was really the determining factor for them to move here, however, once Lori saw a window display of glass projects in the art center, she immediately knew that is what she wanted to do. Lori was mostly a stay-at-home mom (CPA by profession), and after retirement is when they took the plunge to PC.

Phyllis Brietenborn grew up the middle child of four brothers and four sisters on a farm in Seattle, Wash. With a family of nine children, there was always plenty of entertainment. After spending 20 years working for Blue Shield in the medical/dental arena, Phyllis retired and learned to play golf. She and her husband of nearly 30 years traveled all over the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, and several South American countries (playing a lot of golf).

They purchased their home in PC in 1996 as snowbirds and eventually moved here permanently. Her husband passed away in 2020 and she has decided to stay here in PC. Phyllis has participated in many of the arts that are offered here, including woodcarving, painting, ceramics, and fused glass. Getting started from the beginning, she has continued to work with glass and is addicted to it, as so many are!

Millie and her husband looked around for three years from Washington to Florida and found that PebbleCreek was for them. They moved here in 2001 upon retirement from federal service. Millie began with stained glass and eventually transformed five windows in her home into stained glass designs. When the Creative Arts Center opened, she took a fused glass class and was hooked. She’s been doing it ever since.

In addition, Millie helps set up the glass window displays and re-stages the gallery every couple of months. She’s been volunteering to do this for a long time and as you know, the windows always look beautiful.

All these ladies are a wealth of knowledge with glass and are always willing to be very helpful to others. You can find their creations and art featured in our gift gallery.