Marsha Blaker-DeSomma

Marsha Blaker-DeSomma is a well known and very respected name in ceramics in the Seattle area as well as nationally.

Marsha Blaker-DeSomma received her Masters Degree in both ceramics and glass, and has attended the world renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State as a scholarship student and as a staff member. She has mastered a multitude of techniques in both ceramics and glass. Although the media differ widely, her love of nature, texture and attention to detail run throughout.

In 1995 Blaker-DeSomma was selected as an artist assistant for world famous glass artist Dale Chihuly in Notjima, Japan, where she assisted him in painting and glassblowing. The following year she was named a member of the artist installation crew for Chihuly’s widely publicized "Chihuly Over Venice" project which consisted of the installation of 14 massive blown glass chandeliers over the canals throughout this historic capital of glass.

Marsha Blaker-DeSomma has had major gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe, including those at the American Craft Museum, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts Gallery, Boston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Monterey Museum of Art, CA, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection, McPherson Museum, Santa Cruz, CA.

Blaker-DeSomma has received purchase awards from the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and San Francisco State University and a cash award from the Richmond Art Center in northern California. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections, including that of Richard Marcus, founder of Neiman-Marcus.