Eva’s contact with "hot glass" began when she was 14 years old.  Her first summer job was in a glass factory in Slovakia where old glassblowers were making stemware.  Her task was to pick up the just finished goblets with a "fork " and take them to the annealing oven.  The goblets were hard to pick up and she missed.  The gaffer told her to quickly pick up the shards so nobody would notice the damage.  She did.  She jumped.  Everybody laughed really hard. It was just a brief touch, but for sure "hot".  She says, “I guess for me it was strong enough reason to "stick" to the glass for years to come.”  Eva has been with PISMO since 1998 and has been the director of the Vail gallery since 2002.

I'm originally from Poland where I grew up in a charming town in the Tetra Mountains. Most of my young life I spent ski racing around the world. That gave me the opportunity to get to know different cultures and to appreciate their achievements. My love for traveling and nature brought me to the Vail Valley in 2009. Living in the mountains and working at PISMO are part of my idea of surrounding myself with beauty.

Justin, originally from Rochester, Minnesota, moved to Colorado in 1997 where he studied history at Colorado State University. After completing his Masters in International Communications at the University of Denver, Justin sought a respite from the frenetic pace of the city and relocated to Vail. As a student of communication, his passion for art stems from his understanding of art as a medium of place and meaning. PISMO offers him an opportunity to surround himself with distilled beauty, while providing an outlet to share this art appreciation with others.