Alysa Phiel

Alysa Phiel is a third-generation glass artist with almost 30 years of experience in glass, having been taught by her grandparents, long-time glass artists who owned their own studio for 12 years.  Alysa then owned and operated Creations in Glass with her mother for 10 years.  She also shared beginning through advanced classes with hundreds of students over eight years as the former Director of the Warm Shop at Sonoran Glass School in Tucson, Arizona.

In late 2017, Alysa opened her own studio, Wild Desert Glass in Tucson, where she continues to create custom projects in addition to offering instruction in fused glass, stained glass, and mosaics.  Her creativity and range of knowledge make her a fantastic teacher for students looking to create any type of glass art.  She constantly experiments with new techniques and materials and helps others challenge themselves and expand their own skills as artists.

Since 2010, Glass Patterns Quarterly magazine has regularly published her tutorial submissions, including four projects featured on the magazine cover.  In addition to teaching workshops at studios in the Tucson area, she has been an instructor at Glass Craft & Bead Expo in Las Vegas since 2014.  In addition, she taught a 3-day workshop at D&L Artglass in Denver, CO in August 2017 and will be teaching at  other distributors and shops around the country.  For those unable to participate in her workshops, she introduced her first instructional DVD, “Mastering On-Edge” in 2017.   Two additional DVDs “Reuse and Refuse” and “Glass Cutting Basics” were added in 2018.  This past April, “Creating Screenmelts” was made available for the first time at Glass Craft & Bead Expo in Las Vegas.

Alysa’s work ranges from fused functional pieces and wall art to mosaic furniture and fountains and can be found in private collections all over the country.  She has also designed and installed numerous stained glass windows in homes and churches all around Tucson.