Heather B. Moore
I’m going to write my own little history. I grew up in a very none-stop household with my mom, a science teacher and natural history maiden, who would bring home raccoons to care for and love. My father, a young entrepreneur and workaholic, was always coming up with products for the car industry in our kitchen. His first big job was for Chrysler; he had to hire 10 babysitters around the neighborhood to get the job done in our living room. Going to his factories was an adventure for me. My parents always taught us to think outside the box.
We went to garage sales from the very beginning. In an old steel mill town like Cleveland, you are always bound to find something useful. When I was 13, I found a tool we still use in the shop to this day ( and every day, actually ), my first stamp set from late 1800s. I would carry that set around for the next 20 years before actually using it.
I went to college in Chicago studying Business and Psychology in the late 80s. At that time, I went with the fullest intentions of becoming a marine biologist. Some point I decided that snorkeling and SCUBA could be fabulous hobbies, which they still are, but I decided to pursue other subjects. I learned to love economics and found business in general quite appealing. I also was ( and still am ) entranced by organizational psychology as well as developmental psychology. Observing how a child’s mind evolves is so interesting, not to mention how the subject serves as a great reference as I watch my 4 children grew.
In the early 90s, I decided to change colleges to the Cleveland Institute of Art where I focused on the Art of glass and metals. It was there I discovered my true work ethic. I was enamored and changed by materials as well as the tool designed for the material. I also was lucky to have a great group of friends who worked just as hard as I did, and it was there where I met my future husband and amazing oil painter/sculptor, Thomas Frontini, in a freight elevator. We went on our first date that night and stopped to see my grandparents in the house where we now live with our 4 kids: Henry, Leo, Oliver and Coral, our 3 dogs: Gilligan, Tyler and Linus, and 11 ducks that Thomas just gave to me for our 13th wedding anniversary ( names to come ).
During art school, you complete yours studies with a final show where you are required to put together a culmination of work/art and generate dialogue. My show focused on incorporating my friends and family’s quotes or favorite words which I stamped in silver plaques and rings. I then made elaborate frames in glass around these quotes, all of which were accompanied by life sized carved apple heads cast out of brass (a little random). I remember saying during the review that maybe it was the quotes that interested me most. One of the Quotes was given to me by my older sister which said, “I said to my sister and she said to me: ‘Come let’s play laughter together.’” This quote I ended up Peeling off the frame and putting in my wallet.
I went on to blow glass, and that is where I stumbled upon an artist, Judy Pfaff, whom I was placed with at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle. My job was to help her incorporate glass objects into her work. At this point, I had no idea what an important artist she was/is considered in the art world. This worked to my advantage as I often spoke frankly to her; I wasn’t intimidated by her success, and for That, we became great work partners. I also made some fabulous friends who went on to start the B-Team. They are a performance glass show that really “wows” the crowd.
