For glass artist Madeline Rile Smith, it all started with goo. "As a child," she recalls, "I would mix cornstarch and water to create what is known to some as 'oobleck': viscous and amorphous goo. I would sit for hours playing with the material and manipulating it with my hands. When I first worked with hot glass I recognized the similarity immediately.”

Madeline, who specializes in flameworking (blowing glass on a torch) finds her inspiration in the glass-making process. "Often, I allow myself some time to enter a stream-of-consciousness state, manipulating glass in experimental ways to see what happens and how I react to it.” Her large-scale, fine art sculptures have been recognized in juried gallery shows and featured in art magazines and journals. “In my work,” says Madeline, ”I explore my fascination with science and the natural world. I like to think of jewelry as a chance to explore sculptural forms and the implication of movement in a smaller scale.”