Carrie's experiments in glassblowing while a printmaking major at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) ignited her signature style of intricate patterns on vibrantly colored hand blown glass.

Carrie Gustafson's work is largely influenced by the natural world, and she has come to view her studio time akin to cultivating a garden. A daily routine that is both an outlet for creative discovery and a space where she finds balance. There is an organic rhythm to her process. Like an inhale and an exhale – inhaling her surroundings and exhaling life into new pieces. With each new piece another door for exploration opens and she has found that each work uniquely informs the next.

Larger pieces can take several weeks to complete and the seemingly simple act of hand cutting and applying stencils - one at a time – has lead to great discovery. Watching the growth of new patterns and the interplay of positive and negative space is a creative journey in itself. Her love of color is always present. The medium of glass, magical and radiant made by way of breath’s imprint, retains importance as metaphor in her work.  

Gustafson's curiosity has taken her to the Pilchuck Glass  School (WA); Penland School of Crafts (NC); Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass (NY); the Rosin Studio, on Murano, Venice’s historic “glass island” in Italy.  In 1998 she found studio space in Cambridge, MA where she continues to thrive.