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Loy Allen is a South Dakota native who returned to the Black Hills after studying design at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (B.A., 1975). After learning basic lampworking in South Dakota, Ms. Allen studied advanced glass techniques at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and at The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. She has been self-employed as a flameworker since 1979. Shows and Invitations My inspiration comes from the natural world, the hills and plains of Dakota. Stylistically, I am inspired by the art of the Art Nouveau Age. Like the artists of that time, I am interested in a depiction of plant and animal life in a pantheistic spirit. My natural forms are meant to be expressive without being strictly realistic. I hope my work evokes the mystery and power of nature in a feminine, celebratory voice. Publications in which Loy Allen's work has appeared "The Lampworked Glass of Loy Allen"; Murray Bloom Glassline magazine, Feb., 2000 Contemporary Glass: Color, Light And Form; Leier, Peters and Wallace (Guild Publishing), p. 62 Contemporary Lampworking (Third Edition, Vol. 1); Bandhu Dunham, pps. 113, 147, 228 Formed of Fire: Contemporary Selections in Lampworked Glass; Bandhu Dunham Flameworking: Creating Glass Beads, Sculptures and Functional Objects; Elizabeth Ryland Mears (Lark Books) 2007: Mint Museum of Craft and Design Auction Charlotte NC November 2007: Glassified; Group Glass Exhibition Dahl Fine Arts Center, Rapid City SD 2006: Mint Museum of Craft and Design Benefit Auction, Charlotte NC 2005: National Liberty Museum Auction Philadelpha PA January 2005: Goblets 2005 Invitational Glasshouse Studio, Seattle WA August 2004: Glass on the Wall Invitational Kane Marie Fine Arts Gallery, Virginia Beach VA August 2003, The Art of Fine Craft University Place Art Center, Lincoln NE June 2002, Glass Flower Event Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge MA April 2001, James Renwick Alliance Craft Auction Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC February 2000: Flameworked Glass Show Art Elements Gallery, Mequon, WI January - March 2000: The Artistry of Orchids Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC September 1999: Glass Invitational Carlyn Gallerie, Dallas TX July 1999: Invitational Goblet Show The Works Gallery, Philadelphia PA June 1999: Glass Invitational Fanny Garver Gallery, Madison WI April 1999: Cool Women, Hot Glass Ariana Gallery, Royal Oak MI July 1998: Clearly South Dakota; group glass show Dahl Fine Arts Center, Rapid City SD September, 1997: Juried Exhibition Sioux City (IA) Art Center June 1996: Group Show Prairie Edge Gallery, Rapid City SD 1995-1999: American Craft Council Shows Springfield MA, Atlanta GA, St. Paul MN Awards Rushmore Honors Award for Excellence in the Arts Chamber of Commerce