Driving on Route 23 through East Windham and Acra, it is all too easy to get caught up in the breathtaking five-state view that graces the road. But to concentrate only on the view would deprive the visitor of a great treasure there—the artist Ulla Darni and her shop, The Blue Pearl. The shop is located in a restored Victorian home and is filled with jewelry, hand-painted clothing, collectibles and items to soothe the spirit. It is known throughout the world, however, as the showcase for Ulla's hand-painted glass. The lamps are true wonders—made of hand-blown glass, they are painted on the underside with brightly colored floral and abstract designs that shimmer when the lamps are illuminated. The wrought iron and bronze hardware, designed by Ulla and forged by master craftsmen, perfectly complements the shapes and colors of the glass. The lamps, chandeliers and sconces created by Ulla are more than just lights: each one is a true masterpiece of artistry, spirituality and love.



The story of Ulla Darni reads like a fairy tale. A native of Denmark, she began her art education at an early age at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. Her studies led to an apprenticeship and subsequent position as a designer and painter of porcelain at Royal Copenhagen. "It was great training," she said, "because you just sit and paint one stroke for a week and you are not allowed to do anything else before you do that right. It's four years where you don't get paid; you just do good work. In those days we didn't really like it because we had no money. But in hindsight, it was the best education I ever had. Once you know those strokes so perfectly, you can paint."



After her career as a porcelain painter, she decided to try her hand at acting. She was quite successful: one of her films, "The Duel," went on to win First Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. She worked as an actor for seven years and then decided to leave the business and move, with her husband and young children, to the United States. "My son was attending boarding school at the time," she explained. "When I found out how much he hated it I said 'This is ridiculous! Let's move to America and have a normal life for our children.'" The family moved to New York City, where Ulla embarked on another career as a clothing designer, selling her hand-painted dresses in two shops—one located in Manhattan, the other in the Bronx.



When tailored clothing became all the rage in the 1980s, she got bored with the fashion world—the long, flowing dresses of the 1970s were more to her taste and style. Her husband was in poor health and required a more peaceful lifestyle than is available in Manhattan, so she sold her clothing business and moved to the Catskill Mountain region. She bought a large Victorian home that needed a tremendous amount of work and immediately set about supervising its complete renovation. For many this might seem a monumental task, but Ulla, in her usual enthusiastic fashion, jumped right into the project. From the outside, the house is a luscious gingerbread confection, dripping with brightly painted decorative molding. But the beauty of the outside does not fully prepare the visitor for the oasis that she has created within. The kitchen adjoining a greenhouse is a cheerful place, with three large windows that allow outside light to pour in and walls that are lined with bright blue and white ceramic tiles. Two friendly cats loll in the sun, waiting for the kind visitor to rub their bellies. Moving through the kitchen and into the rest of the house, the mood changes from cheerful warmth to soothing serenity. Silk brocade tapestries and original paintings by Ulla line the richly painted walls. Ornate silver tea sets sit on priceless antique furnishings. The scent of incense wafts through the air and Indian sitar music plays gently in the background. Entering this inner sanctum, one cannot help but feel completely, totally at peace.



After moving to the Catskill Mountains and renovating the house, Ulla found that she needed money. Her husband was gravely ill and could not work. "I opened up my doors and put a tag on everything I had. People always said that they liked my taste and I wanted to see if they meant it. They did, and suddenly I was an antique dealer!" One day a young man came into her shop with a blank lamp and asked if she would paint it. The time seemed to be right—Sotheby's auction house had just acquired Handel Lamps, a once large producer of American decorative lamps that closed when the market for such extravagances declined during the Depression. "That's when I started painting the lamps," she said. "When I painted this first table lamp, everyone went crazy, because I was filling a void in the art world." She immediately began collaborating with a dealer in New York and was so successful that she went public one year later. She placed a single black and white ad in a trade paper and after that "the phone never stopped ringing." The first order, for a gallery in Beverly Hills, was for 50 lamps. Since then her business has exploded. Aside from The Blue Pearl and that same gallery in Beverly Hills, her lamps can be found in over 50 galleries throughout the U.S. and in Australia, London, Israel and Tokyo. She has also made one-of-a-kind lamps for celebrities such as Goldie Hawn, Anthony Hopkins, Larry Hagman and Melanie Griffith.



The creation of the lamps is more than just a business. She has won several awards and, in the past few years, her art has grown and developed in exciting new directions. In 2001 the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia her nine-and-one-half-foot-tall sculpture called "The Peace Portal," with its painted and hand-formed glass, sculptured iron supports and fiber optic lights. The Peace Portal is the dominant artwork in the museum's gallery dedicated to the U.S. Nobel Peace Prize recipients. This unique sculpture marks a number of "firsts" for Ulla. It is her largest work to date, the first to use sculptured iron supports and fiber optic lights and is also her first collaboration with her new husband, the glass artist Lawry Swidler. "Together we have formed a new energy—one which is a combination of our lives to date and the love that we feel for each other," she said. "It was a wonderful testament to how well we work together. It worked like a dream—we inspire one another because we respect one another." Ulla and Lawry continue to combine their efforts, creating sculptural and architectural works.



In the past six months, the motifs on the lamps and chandeliers have also changed in important ways. Previously painted with just floral or just abstract designs, she is now at work on a new series of lamps and chandeliers that combine the floral and abstract designs together in a more complex way. Several of the new works are named, marking them as large steps forward in the development of her art. She attributes this new work to "getting love in my life of a whole different caliber than I have ever known." Before meeting her husband, the business side of her art sales threatened to take over her time completely. "I was employing 43 people at one point," she explained, "and everyone was trying to get ahead by stepping all over one another. But I had to go away to paint." The answer to this problem was Lawry, who came into her life a year and a half ago. "I hired him, having been told that he was a genius, to help me on the business end. He conducted in a four-day seminar on running my business. After two days we were in love."



While this newly found love has helped Ulla to develop her art in new directions, it is her spirituality that has always inspired her to create it. "I wake up in the morning very grateful for the ability to do this," she explained, "but I've never felt that 'I' was doing it. My inspiration comes in a meditative state. If I'm painting 13 hours a day I am meditating 13 hours a day. I simply get out of the way and let a higher power come in. I make my little prayer in the morning that the work I do today will be better than the work I did yesterday." Much like the Renaissance sculptor, Michelangelo, who relied on the marble to tell him what final form the work would assume, Ulla, with her natural sense of color harmony, allows the process to tell her what design will appear.



The first question on every visitor's mind is 'How are the lamps produced?' The technique of reverse painting on glass, while popular in the early 19th century, was largely forgotten by the end of the 20th century. It is extremely difficult and time-consuming—the artist must paint the design on one side of the glass while keeping in mind that it will be viewed from the other. As such, the process requires that the painting be done in reverse order from typically painting on canvas or paper—what is seen first or appears closest to the viewer as detail or highlights must be painted first rather than last. Because the paint is applied on the backside, the image is reversed or backwards when painting: the glass is then turned over and viewed through the front surface. There is also the problem of the kind of paint to use, since the heat from the lamps can cause regular oil paints to peel away. While Ulla remains mysterious regarding the specific composition of the paints she uses—some trade secrets are better left unsaid—she will say that she uses a special combination of glass and oil-based paints to create the bright colors and to ensure the stability and longevity of her designs.



Asked if she intends to continue to pursue this technique, Ulla laughed gaily and responded, "It doesn't look like the technique wants to leave me!" She and her husband are visibly enthusiastic about the new dimension and depth that has emerged in her work. Many others share that enthusiasm—in the past two months, four new galleries have started to sell her work. It is uncertain to what end this new direction will lead, but it is certain that whatever it may be will come directly from the heart and the spirit of this truly remarkable woman.



Ulla Darni's studio and home on Route 23W in Acra, NY are no longer open to the public. The Blue Pearl is now the local gallery open to view Ulla's original work as well as her designed "multiple original" patterns. It is located at 7751 Route 23 in East Windham and is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday to 9 pm or by appointment. Call 518 734 6525 for more information. Her Web site, www.ulladarni.com, is currently being re-designed to feature her newest work.



Sarah Taft is a resident of Halcott Center, NY.