Luminosity is a hallmark of the pieces that husband-and-wife glass artists Heather and John Fields produce as Fields & Fields Blown Glass in Portland.

Denise Sirchie has a passion for making mosaics, one hand-cut piece at a time. Her sculptures and panels begin with the selection of a form (think vintage mannequin, gazelle-shaped knickknack or Plain Jane frame gleaned from a thrift shop or estate sale) and the gathering of materials—mostly recycled items such as jewelry, china, stained glass, marbles, tile and slingshot pellets—from different shelves in her studio, a former detached garage behind her Multnomah Village-area home that her contractor-husband transformed into a cozy mosaic-making place.

As CJ Rench Design Studio, Chris “CJ” Rench manipulates metal into sculptures with organic lines and shapes (imagine circles, orbs and super-cool squiggles) that he finishes off in either rustic or sleek patinas, or powder-coats in eye-popping colors such as Granny Smith green and School Bus yellow. “You have to have a passion for working with metal to do it because there’s nothing easy about it,” says the 43-year-old, who is also a national sales manager for a couple of companies that make wind-surfing equipment. “Metal doesn’t always perform the way you want it to, but it can take on so many shapes and forms. Luckily, I have a mind that can visualize and draw in 3D. I love getting metal to work with me.”

For embroidery artist Emily Katz, the best kind of art is art you can do with a needle and thread—or a hook and yarn. “I’ve always been interested in tactile arts,” she says. “I went to a Waldorf school, and we learned to knit, crochet and quilt. I did things that were hands-on, and that really taught me to think outside the box when it comes to making art.”

Ceramic artist Gretchen Vaudt professed her intention to become an artist at an early age. “I was going through some of my old things and I found something I’d written when I was in first grade,”she says. “On the paper, it said I AM AN ARTIST.”

A trip to Greece inspired ceramic artist Marilyn Woods to begin sculpting the human form. “Eight years ago, my husband and I went to Greece on vacation, where I saw all these beautiful sculptures,” she says. “I’d never done figure work before, but after we came home, I started trying to make my first torso.”

Furniture designer Donny Faris got the idea for making geometrically shaped table legs when he was a student at Portland State University. “I had a job in the facilities department, and, one day, I accidentally knocked a bunch of signs off of a desk,” he says. “They fell into a twisty shape that intrigued me. After work, I went home and made my first table with a stack of picture frames that rotated off each other.”