Seattle, WA – July 5, 2007 - California-based artist Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Libenský Award for her contributions to the development of glass in contemporary art and her dedication to Pilchuck Glass School. A committee of previous recipients selected Stinsmuehlen-Amend for her pioneering work with flat glass and for her more than twenty-five years of direct involvement with Pilchuck as a frequent instructor, a Hauberg Fellow in 2001 and an Artist in Residence, summer 2006.

Stinsmuehlen-Amend uses glass as an interpretive tool to decipher her world, both the personal and the public, the conscious and the unconscious. Her subject matter comes from ‘the unconscious residue that is made in the wake of the day-to-day process of living.’ Flat glass and blown glass forms are painted with text and images created with an intuitive response that overrides rational or logical progression. “For Susan, the material is in service to her muse,” adds selection committee member Cappy Thompson. “Her work has taken flat glass from out of the window, to wall sculpture and back. From her early creative years she has experimented with materials to express her unique voice.”

Originally from Baltimore, Stinsmuelhlen-Amend was educated at Hood College, Indiana University at Bloomington and at the University of Texas at Austin. She has served as president of the board of directors of the Glass Art Society and was owner and designer for the Renaissance Glass Company from 1973 to 1987. Recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, she has exhibited and taught widely as a guest artist and lecturer at many schools including Penland School of Crafts and Rhode Island School of Design.

Pilchuck Glass School, Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, and renowned Czech artists Stanislav Libenský (1921–2002) and Jaroslava Brychtová established the Libenský Award in 1997. This prize acknowledges extraordinary artistic talent and high achievement in the world of contemporary glass art. Pilchuck Glass School coordinates the determination of the award. Previous Libenský Award recipients include Dale Chihuly, Dan Dailey, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, Richard Marquis, Benjamin Moore, William Morris, Ginny Ruffner, Italo Scanga, Lino Tagliapietra, and Cappy Thompson.