Farewell to JoAnn

It is with extreme sadness and sincere condolences to her family, that we say goodbye to a wonderfully caring soul and talented artist in the form of JoAnn (westartglass).
JoAnn has just just passed after a recent illness leaving bereaved husband Harold, her daughter and two grand children.
For those members who were not lucky enough to have been touched by JoAnn, she was a kind and caring person, who always took time out to help others along the way.
She worked as an artist in many medias, including one of her favourites glass, in all its beautiful forms, stained glass, fused and Dichoric.
JoAnn loved horses, having owned, raised, trained and ridden her own in show classes and for pleasure.
As an artist she had won many awards and accolades, and cared about wildlife and the environment as well as people, and supported many charities.
I include a link to her profile on Ebay and Etsy, this is an extract from the start and end of the Etsy profile...
Please take time to read JoAnn's profiles, they are very inspirational, its starts with..
'I am married to the best husband in the world, we have one daughter and two grand children'
and ends with..
'and Always be kind to one another'
Etsy Profile
http://www.etsy.com/people/westartglass#

Ebay profile
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=westartglass

JoAnn enjoyed celebrating her Cherokee heritage,in her many creations that feature Native American artwork.

Love of Horses

St.Valentine's day is all about Love, but perhaps the Saint most associated with Animals and their Welfare would be St. Francis. Most Artists have a big heart and reading their blogs and profiles you will see their homes are usually crowded with a motley menagerie of rescued animals, here are just a few of our many members that donate a percentage of proceeds from their shop sales to homing and rescue charities.
Top to Bottom, are
DebLittle, for The Cloud Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping wild horses on their rightful homelands in the wild.
Equinoxphoto, for Cowgirls for a cause rescue equines and dogs
Ksantini, for Animal Welfare
Linda Shantz, for the Long Run Thoroughbred Retirement Society
EpicFarms, for Epic farms rescue and homing horses
MustangaDayChallenge, for Alder Hill Farm Rescue
SusanMontyFineArt, for Pure thoughts Horse and Foal Rescue