Our seasonal gallery in East Boothbay, Maine was originally a summer Methodist chapel built from 1911 to 1913. It passed into private use in the 1940's but was allowed to decline over the years. We had the courage and foresight to save this historic building when we purchased it in 1997. We worked on it day and night through the winter of '97 and opened the beautiful French doors to the public that May. We have worked on and in this glorious building since then, and our painted lady has been an inspirational home and gallery. The stained glass windows are original to the building and compliment the fused glass jewelry, stained glass kaleidoscopes, glass designs, gift collectibles and even the original paintings and prints. Every item in the gallery is hand crafted by us.

The gallery is open during the tourist season, June to October, most days from 10 to 5. During the off-season we are busy designing and creating new glass artworks, jewelry and paintings in our studios in Cape Carteret, North Carolina.

George Bear is the Stained Glass and Fused Glass worker who produces the collectible and award-winning kaleidoscopes and Fused Glass Candle Holders, Vases and Wind Chimes. He continues to create new and dynamic art and jewelry in fused glass and dichcroic glass. His decorative glass art has taken a new path with his Vitrigraph Kiln creations fused into glass wall art and handmade jewelry and incredible bowls made of triple layers of fused glass with Vitrigraph Kiln designs throughout the artworks.

George has his dichcroic glass custom made by Austin Thin Films (www.dichromagic.com) to further enhance the special effects in many of his creations from handcrafted jewelry to the kaleidoscope wheels and glass art.

Susan Mack Bear is the artist who is responsible for the outstanding paintings and signed prints of many of those paintings. One can almost feel the crashing waves of the Maine coast, smell the beach roses and lupines or hear the fog horns of the Maine Lighthouses when viewing her paintings of the mid-coast region, contrasted to the softer colors and textures of her mid-coast North Carolina paintings. She is responsible for the overall operation of the gallery and has enjoyed meeting the many thousands of visitors every summer. So many people have become friends of the gallery and it is delightful knowing people from all over our country. She has also started creating jewelry and designing and creating glass wall art and large bowls which are functional and decorative.

Usually once a year George and Susan travel to Rainbow Art Glass (www.rainbowartglass.com) in Farmingdale, New Jersey to select the newest and most interesting sheets of fusible glass to become new glass artworks.

Before moving to Maine in 1996, George and Susan participated in many juried art shows in San Francisco, Monterey and Sacramento. While living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State they were members of the Art Foundation in Sequim and were associated with galleries and juried shows in Olympia, Port Orchard, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Everett, Bothell and Bellingham.

George and Susan are members of The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society (www.brewstersociety.com) for designers, collectors, and lovers of kaleidoscopes).

They are also juried members of the Carteret County Arts Coalition, Morehead City, NC and associate members of the Carolina Artist Studio Gallery, Inc., Morehead City, NC (www.carolinaartistsstudio.com).

A Mack Bear Shop is featured on the handcrafted website www.etsy.com. Enter Mack Bear, dichroic, kaleidoscopes, art glass...any of the items we create.

Other contacts include www.slumpys.com; www.rainbowartglass.com; and www.merchantcircle.com.