Nice to meet you!
Well, my first blog post… What better way to start than by introducing myself? I think I’m going to keep this simple with some basic “get to know me” stuff now and get into my art in future posts because I have some stories to tell there!
Without further ado…
I’m Emily Glass, a professional artist and lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area. I only began my career as an artist in 2020, though I’ve been an “artist-at-heart” my whole life.
Did I go to school for it? Nope! I earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh. Then I spent two years in a certification program at what is now known as Pittsburgh Technical College and achieved some major Microsoft Certifications after that. Because I love learning, I then got a master’s degree in information systems management at Robert Morris University. Before I became a full-time artist, I worked in Information Technology for twenty years!
The best part of all that schooling, though, was meeting my husband at RMU! The first day I saw him was the first day of my first class. On commencement day, he proposed!
Oh, and when I first met him, I couldn’t stand him. “Arrogant jerk” was how I’d have described him. Lucky for both of us, I am big at giving people second chances and will admit when I’m wrong!
I’ve been happily married to Mike since 2008. We share a love of our cats, traveling together, and going to concerts and local sporting events. After all these years together, we still spend hours talking over drinks and listening to music. We mostly listen to punk rock and reggae but we like to mix in oldies and old country now and then. But Alexa would tell you we listen to pop and lots of 90s too… Because I’m belting it out when he’s not home!
I love adventure and am lucky Mike is a good sport about what I get us into! Before the pandemic, we frequented the island of Jamaica. Not like all-inclusive resorts—We have rented a car and driven the entire island several times. We stayed in the mountains in a cottage built on stilts. We stayed on a 12-acre pineapple farm. We have eaten foods that most tourists would never consider trying. If electricity was sketchy, if there was no hot water or AC, if it was hard to get to, I wanted to experience it! Thankfully, Mike says, “You make the plans and just tell me where to drive!”
I am a gardener, I suppose… That is, I plant flower beds and veggie gardens every year. I adore it! Being barefoot in the grass and digging in the dirt is one of my favorite things to do, so I even love pulling weeds. That said, I find the act of watering everything to be such a chore, so I get lazy with that and by the end of the year I am thankful for anything that survives the drought I put it through. But, being in Pittsburgh, it rains a lot, so sometimes it all works out.
For over twenty years I’ve dealt with autoimmune diseases, having been diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis first, then with Multiple Sclerosis in 2015. I won’t get into details now since I have some art-related stories around that for later. But that has shaped another big part of my life: my diet! I keep myself on a very restricted diet to help manage my conditions, so I spend a lot of my time making food! I make my own kombucha, sauerkraut, and bone broth. I eat more vegetables than anyone I know. I love experimenting with food for myself but am nowhere near the chef that my husband is. So generally I make a lot of breakfasts and lunches for myself and he handles dinner! (I am thankful for it!)
I know this may not have been the intro you’d expect, but you’ll be hearing a lot about my art, my influences, my processes, how I got here, and more in future posts. Until then, thanks for taking a moment to get to know me!