My history with glass started in 1981 with a stained glass class and I didn't take it back up until 1998 when I met my husband Terry. We both enjoyed stained glass and started making windows. One thing lead to another and we started a stained glass store in 1999 called Dragonshire Stained Glass which is now located in Grinnell, IA.

I was introduced to glass fusing in 2002 and purchased my first kiln. It was a small hot box kiln. It was big enough for me to try fusing and I got hooked on dichroic jewelry. But I wanted more and graduated to a 13" inside diameter Olympic programable kiln. Now I had a kiln that I could slump in. A series of bowls and plates began to emerge. I began experimenting with glass paints and created several painted pieces. My friend Bob intoduced me to the art of Richard La Londe. Richard was having a class at his studio in Washington state. So off I went and took his 4 day class. I learned some interesting techniques using glass frit. I came back excited to practice what I learned. But wait I needed a larger kiln, so another purchase was made of a Skutt GM1414. Large bathtub style kiln. Of of course I had to buy all kinds of frit, stringers and confetti to use in my new art work.

I decided that I needed to keep my art work separate from Dragonshire. The name I came up with was a childhood nickname that my parents still call me today, Beckey B. So Art by BeckeyB was created in 2009.