Gloria Eslinger is an Associate Professor specializing in Art Therapy, Art Foundation courses and is the Director of the Kruk Gallery. A registered Art Therapist under American Art Therapy Association, she brings 13 years of professional experience in the mental health field, as well as current practice as an Art Therapist in the Superior Community to her position at UWS.

Artist Statement
     I believe art is a method to communicate with my audience in the most direct and immediate way.  I am a tactile artist.  I create with traditional mediums, but I shake them free of their conventional milieu to create something unexpected.  In the case of the medium of stained glass, many early windows obscured natural light because the methods to produce sheets of glass were primitive, and glass was restricted to small pieces held by heavy pieces of lead, called caning.  My work, utilizing modern techniques, allows the medium of colored glass to appear lighter, break boundaries and transform spaces.

     When creating in glass I am continually aware of the immediate and emotional impact on the viewer.  By thinking of how light and color will encompass the entire space which houses the glass, I invite the viewer to become a participant, rather than simply stand back and see the piece from one point of view.  By using abstract rather than allegorical or symbolic shapes, I encourage people to find their own particular meaning in my work.

     As a child I was learning challenged.  Drawing and painting was a fluid and seamless way to express myself and feel connected with those around me.  A desire to show others how art might help them engage in their community led me to become an Art Therapist as well as an Art Educator.

     As an Art Therapist I utilize visual arts with people who are unable to express themselves through the conventional mediums of speech and language.  I view my work as a facilitator, creating safe spaces for people to connect with themselves and thereby reconnect to their community.

2013 MFA Goddard College
1998 American Art Therapy Association, Registered Art Therapist
1993 University of Wisconsin-Superior, MA
1991 Minneapolis College of Art and Design BFA