Kim Vredenburg Kim V. Glass PO Box 395 Hope Valley, RI  02832 www.kimvglass.com After attending college, Kim returned to southern Rhode Island and embarked on a career as an elementary school teacher.  Recently retired, she is able to devote more time to lampworking in her home studio.  She has written several articles for major glass magazines and is honored to have been selected for inclusion in the 2008 Bead Review 3, A Year of Exceptional Art Glass Beads.  When asked what she does now that she is retired, her response is usually that she “plays with fire.”    While having worked with glass in one temperature or another for the past 20 years, Kim has been melting glass at her torch for 5 years.  What started out as a quest to make small coordinated beads for her fused jewelry quickly turned into a change of direction in her work.  Due to a lack of lampworking studios in the area at the beginning of her lampworking journey, Kim was mainly self-taught.  When a teaching studio opened in a neighboring state, she was able to participate in classes with many internationally-known lampwork instructors.  Her desire to improve has expanded to include attending classes from Maine to Florida.   Each item that Kim makes is indeed a one of a kind, unique creation.  This is in part due to the reactions of the glass to the torch chemistry.  Despite having created thousands of glass pieces, she still feels that opening the kiln in the morning is like Christmas.  Her main goal is to offer pieces that are special for the individual buyers.