Biography

Laura Donefer

Laura Donefer is an award-winning artist who has been using glass as her primary medium for more than thirty-eight years, often in combination with diverse materials. Celebrated for her innovative, colorful blown glass and flame worked “Amulet Baskets”, she also pushes the boundaries with work that explores ideas concerning memory, assault, bereavement, joy and madness. In demand as an exciting teacher helping her students to push the boundaries of glass as an art material, Laura has taught workshops and given lectures worldwide, including Japan, the United States, China, New Zealand and Australia. Her work is many public and private collections, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the Museum of Art and Design in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Art in Montreal to name but a few. Laura has been honoured with many awards, among them “Lifetime Achievement Awards” from the Glass Art Association of Canada, as well as Craft Ontario, the prestigious “Honorary Membership Award” from the Glass Art Society, for her dedication to the glass community at large, and the International Flameworking Award for “extraordinary contributions to the glass art world,” as well as being honored in 2016 with the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass award for her role in the glass community. Every few years Laura organizes one of her wacky, exuberant Glass Fashion Shows, a fantastical spectacle for the international glass community to enjoy. The last one took place in Murano, Italy and featured 33 amazing glass costumes in gondolas going down the famous “Vetrai Canal.” Laura lives in the wilds of Ontario, Canada, and in her spare time grows kale, hangs out with her husband The Mighty Dave and kayaks the nearby waterways with her dachshund Mr. Lance, loving and living her life to the fullest!

Laura Donefer is represented by Sandra Ainsley Gallery, located in Toronto, the leading contemporary glass art gallery in Canada.

Artwork