Survivor Discovers Passion For Glass
Anna Curnes pieces life back together with art after sister’s death
The loss of her sister after a long battle with cancer shattered Anna Curnes’ heart. Three years later, the Park Cities native still couldn’t break free of what had happened, and it was dominating her life.
Then the math and Spanish tutor walked into a fused glass class at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas. She loved it, and through her art, she began to heal.
“It was tangibly being able to take broken pieces and put it back together in a way that’s far more beautiful than it could have been before,” she explained. “There was intentionality in the breaking, and in the picture that came.”
After she discovered glass, Curnes resolved to learn from as many talented masters as she could. Her travels eventually took her to Murano, Italy, where she studied with generational glass master Diego Bottacin. The 1999 Highland Park High School grad worked for years in Chicago before returning to Dallas.
In 2019, Curnes opened Dragon Street’s ALG Collective, whose acronym stands for Curnes’ glass business: Anna Lou Glass. The collective recently transitioned to ALG Fine Art and now functions as both a traditional gallery and a workspace for Curnes and fellow resident artist Christi Meril.
Earlier this fall, ALG hosted its first visiting artist show, “Own Your Own Story; Write Your Own Ending.” Artists responded to a prompt by Brené Brown: “When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write the ending.”
Among the included works was Curnes’ Director’s Cut, which features “snapshots” of glass strings painstakingly hand cut and fused by Curnes. The strings, she explained, represent multi-faceted moments in time that come together to lead us to the present.
“I kind of look at a single one as a snapshot,” Curnes said. “But all together, it’s this beautiful feature film of what’s happening.”
Curnes chose the show’s participants through a blind selection process. The result was a mix of emerging artists and established professionals, several of whom hailed from the Park Cities or Preston Hollow.
“I didn’t want names to influence, because that’s not what the show was about,” she explained. “It wasn’t about how well are you known, or how many followers do you have. It wasn’t about anything other than your talent, your energy, and your connection to this specific show.”
Curnes said the ownership of beautiful art shouldn’t be exclusive, either. ALG Fine Art’s pieces are available at a range of price points, from a pack of notecards which costs $25 to $25,000 for a large installation of a dozen or more sculpted glass flowers.
Curnes hopes to continue creating immersive art experiences and fostering fine art as an inclusive experience for creators, collectors and the community.
“I created beauty out of brokenness,” she said. “It was so healing and joyful and impactful for me. It changed my life. I continued creating to be able to share that beauty with the world and share that joy with others.”
