About The Artist

Welcome! I am, Samantha Stitz – Glass Artist

Megolomania

.[The Mischief behind the madness].

.[Mortification]. – A Taurean who survives mostly on stubbornness and driving herself crazy with endless projects.

.[Misconceptions]. – Not a complete fool… some parts are missing!

.[Hextasy]. – Now where to begin, I’ve always been artistically inclined since I was drawing on the walls of my parents house when I was a child and getting in trouble for it. Despite a few stints being completely uncreative, I have always found my way back to the fundamental need to be creative and this is how my label .[Hextasy]. was born. It is the combined efforts of all the artwork, both digital, sculptural, and functional that I create, it is the state of mind I go to whilst creating.

.[Early Years]. – After studying Multimedia at the Australian Advertising Academy in August 2001 I made the break away from traditional artwork into digital. From there I worked obsessively with Photoshop 6 & 7, Poser 4 & 5, Painter 8, Corel Draw 10 and Dreamweaver creating websites.

Under the title of Deviant Designs I produced character packages for 3D Characters. This included creating textures for 3D models and props for them to use. In April 2002 the 3D Commune Magazine featured an article about myself and artwork.

Between 2003 and 2004 I obtained my Certificate III & IV in Business Administration, excelling at accounting and database creation while working for myself freelance, I seem to bounce back and forth from being right brained and left brained, go figure.

As a result in a move in 2004 I fell into sales and the construction industry which wow I must say has been a wild ride working for companies such as the likes of HILTI and HUSQVARNA with some interesting characters along the way.

Since 2006 I have been dabbling in the realms of jewellery making which has since resulted in “the stash” aka, a legitimate excuse to purchase and play with shiny things without looking like a hoarder.

In 2008 I had a life changing moment when my mother purchased a dichroic glass pendant and made the mistake of showing me. I had a light bulb moment and realised I _HAD_ to learn how to make these wonderful creations. Thanks to the internet, the purchase of a kiln and many hours of fiddling you can all see the result of my obsession.

In 2010 after two years of attempting to put up an online store, Hextasy – Designs of Decadence was now fully operational.

Now to make matters worse, in 2010 I started crossing paths with various lampwork beads, the same light bulb moment and itch of I _HAD_ to learn how to do this happened all over again. I started out with a hot head melting glass on my back veranda with the BBQ gas cylinder and discovered that hey “Burning things rocks!” from there my dad suggested that I borrow his welding oxy bottle. What a mistake that was! he was not to get it back!

SO, another kiln later and a dodgy table in the garage is where I started with my Cricket, but I wasn’t satisfied, nope, I upgraded to a Norton Mega Minor “Little Red” and then a Nortel Red Max apparently “Big Red” wasn’t enough and topped off the studio with “The Tank” aka a Bethlehem Bravo, who is my favourite, but shhhhh don’t tell the others.

In 2013 I was very unfortunate to have a work accident, tearing the TFC cartilage in the middle of my right wrist. This lead to a hand that was rendered inoperable for 18 months due to a wrong specialist diagnosis until I was finally able to have surgery to correct this and in a nut shell learn to use my hand again. For a creative type and being my dominant hand this was the kiss of death on my glass creations. However it was also a very humbling experience, which in turn never dulled my obsession with glass.

.[Past, Present, Future]. – As with all things, change is inevitable and with my hand healed to it’s best, in 2017, I decided after 5 years of working crazy hours in a job with no work life balance to pull the pin and change careers. While I still work full time, the change of role has allowed me to get back to focusing on what I have always loved. Glass. So after much shuffling around I now have a full blown torch studio setup which I can not spend enough waking hours in. I have been blessed to have attended workshops by Mark Elliott, Davide Penso and Mauro Vianello.  Currently my focus is on sculptural work, both in soft and borosilicate. If i’m not doing, I am dreaming about what I will make next, the challenge of working with glass is a never ending obsession for me. Thankfully I am blessed with a partner who is nothing but encouraging and understanding of this.

So when I’m not working full time, talking to my chickens or dabbling in my art you can find me at various Brisbane Markets or online maintaining my creations.

Roses,
.[S].

.[IN MY NATURAL HABITAT].

.[DIGITAL ARTWORK].