Lori Schinelli

Born in Brooklyn, Lori’s childhood summer days were spent at the beach. As a teenager, she worked every summer as a lifeguard. Being near the ocean always held the singular power to calm her heart.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York and married. Soon there were children. Recalling her happy childhood memories she brought her young family to the beach, passing on the love of sun and sand to her boys. In 1993, her family moved to Atlanta and Lori faced a new challenge…. There was no ocean for six long hours in any direction. She longed for the peace she experienced at the beach and without a sandy place to put her feet, she felt claustrophobic and suffocated. In an attempt to spark hoy in another way she attended classes in painting and sculpture. It was when she walked into a glass fusing class in 2002, that she was surprised to experience a familiar peaceful feeling. Somehow, working with glass diminished that ache that she thought only the sea could alleviate. Glass captured the light, reflected and refracted it in a way that recalled, in her, the experience of looking out on the water. Since that day, glass has been her primary medium. She has traveled across the US and Canada, learning various glass techniques, studying with world-renowned masters at major glass centers, such as the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, in New York and the Pilchuck Glass School, in Stanford Washington. She currently works as a full-time artist, splitting her time between her studio in Dunwoody Georgia and, more recently, her studio in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. There once again, she is inspired by the waves and the dolphins. Her work is sold in galleries throughout the Southeastern US.