By Ken Mammarella
Contributing Writer

Among the supplies that artist Gina Olkowski has sorted in her home studio just south of Newark are cat tails and ears, white petals and the letters needed to spell “love.” They’re among the hundreds of pounds of sea glass that she has found, bought and been given.

Sea glass is glass smoothed by rocks, sand and waves, a process that she said takes 30 to 100 years. Pieces that have been in the water longer are often eroded into tiny, useless bits, like the sand that they had once been. Pieces that have been in the water less time are not considered “cooked” or “done.”

Sea glass is most commonly brown, clear and green, because those are the most common colors for bottles. Exceptions include gray (such as TV screens), cobalt blue (Bromo Seltzer bottles, perhaps made in Baltimore), pieces made with manganese (once clear, but turning lilac in the sun) and multicolored pieces (discards from the glassmaking studios in Murano, Italy).

She uses the pieces as she finds them, except for drilling holes in them so that they can be hung. She maintains that standard to get into the juried festivals where she sells most of her creations. She also promotes her work as Saltwater and Sand on Facebook and Saltwater.and.sand on Instagram.

Olkowski was young when she first started looking for sea glass with her family while at her grandmother’s house in Seaside Heights, N.J. “I remember being excited by finding a good piece, like a big one or a blue one, because blue is a rare color, and big things get broken,” she said, “and I still get excited when I find a well-worn piece that I can use in my art.”

She has collected a lot along the Jersey Shore, but beach replenishment after Hurricane Sandy buried the good stuff, she said. She and her husband Greg are quite familiar with the “sea glass stoop” needed to walk along the beach and look down for sea glass. “I take vacations to find sea glass,” she said, citing trips to Italy, Greece, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Curacao and St. Croix. 

It began with a fundraiser

Olkowski moved to Delaware for college, and she retired in 2017, after a career of mostly teaching science and math at Redding Middle School in Middletown. She now works part-time at St. Anthony of Padua Grade School in Wilmington, providing extra support in reading and math.

Her work as an artist began about 15 years ago when she made a piece out of scallop shells for a fundraiser for the wrestling booster club at St. Mark’s High School, where her son Michael was a student. “Shells were easier to find,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to give up my sea glass.”

Now she is.

Her studio occupies most of one bedroom, with supplies spilling over to other parts of the house. The glass is sorted primarily by color, but also size of the pieces, where she found them and their potential purpose. Purposes include popular themes, such as snowmen (calling for white circles of various sizes), Christmas trees (green triangles) and the white flowers that are her most popular designs (popular is relative, she said, noting that sea glass appeals mostly to people with beach houses).

She also collects seaweed, sponges, crab molts, sea stars, seahorses, horseshoe crab molts, fish vertebrae, driftwood, pottery, bricks and shells. A favorite nearby spot now is along the Delaware River in Old New Castle. “It’s a mix of old glass and trash, so you have to be discerning,” she said, noting the trash can include false teeth and eyeglasses. Another form of trash, for her, is craft glass – pieces manufactured to look like sea glass. And she doesn’t paint or polish pieces, as some people do. 

Katie Skeels, a friend since kindergarten, fondly recalls joining Olkowski to collect sea glass when they were young. “It was like treasure hunting.” Skeels’ family also enjoyed collecting sea glass, and after Olkowski started making art with it, Skeels gave her several mason jars filled with sea glass. “Take it, create your art and share it,” Skeels recalled saying.

A multifaceted artist

Olkowski has made multiple pieces for Skeels and her family, and probably the most treasured is one that depicts the nine grandchildren of Skeels’ mother, she said.

“Gina is a multifaceted artist – she is an actress, costumer, and visual artist,” said Gail Wagner, who has acted with her and directed her on both stage and in film. Olkowski’s credits include independent movies, training films, commercials and theater productions at Chapel Street Players, the Wilmington Drama League, Reedy Point Players and the Milburn Stone Theater.

“When Gina began to create her natural sea glass pieces, they made me think of stained glass windows (which I love) as well as warm weather, summertime, and, of course, the beach,” Wagner said. “Gina creates not just the whimsical, but the memorable. My purchases from Gina are framed pieces which were created for me personally as well as gifts for family. 

“My first purchase was a custom picture representing the three dogs we had at that time. She even drew a line behind one of the pieces of glass to represent the ridge running down my Rhodesian Ridgeback’s back. (This is my favorite piece and makes me smile every time I look at it.) 

“Second is the Delaware-shaped sea glass picture. A special art piece for any native Delawarean. Gina made a custom gift for my son and daughter-in-law of a sea glass dog picture of their dog, and my other son received a star wars themed sea glass picture. Each gift was loved!

“But Gina doesn’t just work in sea glass, but also natural shells gathered from the shoreline from which she creates pictures, trinket bowls and tiaras. Each one is a special reminder of a day walking the beach, hearing the surf, putting your toes in the sand.”