According to Ronda Vosti, founder and proprietor of the twin galleries called RASberry's Art Glass and Raku Ceramics Galleries in Yountville, when she looks at artists Loretta Eby and Jeff Jackson, "I think of the marriage of these two talented artists as both a traditional, spiritual marriage and as a marriage of their art. Of metal and glass." Indeed, the 17-year collaboration of these nationally known artists has been remarkable on many different levels.

Loretta Eby, whose resume includes study at some of the nation's most esteemed art schools, has always focused her talents and skill on hot glass, opening her own glass-blowing studio in Georgia in 1985. Jackson, a self-taught artist with a broad background of work and experience who, prior to his move to the South, had owned studios in Florida and on the wind-swept Oregon coast, joined forces with Eby in 1984. This collaboration, which focuses on the dramatic fusing of metal and glass, has created an entirely new body of work for the two artists.

As serious as collectors are about the work of Loretta Eby and Jeff Jackson, the artists themselves still retain a freshness and even a sense of humor about their lives as well as their work. "I have a wonderful time with these two artists," Vosti said, unable to suppress a smile. "You can tell just by looking at their work that they truly enjoy what they're doing. Every aspect of it is fresh and innovative. I think that comes through in each piece they create."
While their work is on display in prestigious collections throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and Australia, "We always try to have representative pieces on hand," said Vosti, looking at a striking new work that had just arrived from the artist's studio in northern Georgia. "People have come to rely on the gallery for fresh new creations, so we work with the artists to keep a surprise or two on hand."

As the glass blower in the artistic duet, Eby begins her day before the roosters crow, and fittingly enough goes to work in a studio that had once been a chicken coop. A chicken house, as they call them in rural Oconee County, Georgia. Now renovated and turned into a proper studio, she shares it with Jackson.

She begins each day by pouring a white powder into a hole heated by a 2,000-degree furnace that's been running non-stop since 1996. Her finished pieces range from the small and surprisingly affordable (considering the uniqueness of each and the considerable hand work) perfume bottles and glass balls to larger pieces of art that make a commanding statement in even the most dramatic space.

For the large pieces she supplies the stunningly colored glass done in amazing designs; he makes the stainless steel and iron components that can add both creative weight and whimsy at the same time. Together they make sculpture that is collected not just in this country (including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC) but internationally.

Said Ronda Vosti, "Loretta is an exceptional artist in her own right, there is no doubt about that. But with the work she does with Jeff, it enters into an entirely new and exciting dimension. They compliment each other so beautifully, I am still amazed when I see each new work they create."

And the work of these two talented artists, married to each other and through their work, is nothing if it is not constantly, charmingly surprising.
You can see the works of Eby and Jackson, as well as those of many of talented artists, at RASberry's Art Glass and Raku Ceramics Galleries in the Beard Plaza on 6540 Washington Street in Yountville.