Elizabeth Hopkins (nee Haesche) is a native of Cheshire, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Muhlenburg College and attended the Master of Fine Arts program for acting at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. During her decade-long career as a supervisor of legal assistants and paralegals at large law firms, she started to explore glass beadmaking.  After a few years of training, she started selling her glass bead jewelry part-time. In 2004, she left her “day job” and pursued glass full-time.  Late in 2010, she moved, with her husband, to Millstone Township, New Jersey where she will soon be opening a new lampworking studio for bead-making and teaching.

After spending her early life exploring a variety of arts and crafts, Elizabeth turned her attention to glass in 1997. Fascinated by the texture, form and color potential of glass, Elizabeth began studying lampworking with renowned glass artists Leah Fairbanks, Sally Prasch, Emilio Santini, Paul Stankard and Loren Stump. Blending the interpretative and creative skills she honed in her years as an actress and the eye for detail and color she developed in her years of knitting, cross stitch, needlepoint and beadwork, she has developed her own unique style in glass creations that are at once playful and elegant.

Elizabeth shows her work at numerous juried arts and crafts shows in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Among her awards are first place in crafts at the 2009 and 2006 Peddlers Village Fine Arts & Contemporary Craft Show, the 2004 New Hope Outdoors Arts and Crafts Festival and the 2004 New London (Connecticut) Waterfront Arts Festival.

In November 2008, Elizabeth made her debut at the prestigious Sculptural Objects and Funtional Arts (SOFA) show in Chicago, represented by the Mostly Glass Gallery.  She has since appeared regularly at SOFA New York and SOFA Chicago.  She has also appeared at Wheaton Village's Glass Weekend in 2009 and 2011, as well as Wayne Art Center's "Reflections in Glass" in 2009.

Her work may also be seen at the Accent Studio in Haddonfield, New Jersey, Seraphim Gifts & Collectibles in Dublin, Pennsylvania, Mostly Glass Gallery (on the web), the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jubili Beads in Collingswood, New Jersey, Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania and Sickle's Market in Little Silver, New Jersey.

Elizabeth was featured in the February 2005 issue of Lapidary Journal with a "Step by Step" article on making flowered beads. In addition to appearing in galleries, boutiques and Arts and Crafts shows, Elizabeth has also offered classes in lampworking at Jubili Beads in Collingswood, New Jersey, Bucks County Beads in Newtown, Pennsylvania, Salem Community College in Carneys Point, New Jersey and Markeim Art Center in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Call (732) 539-9394 to find out about future individual and group classes.  Elizabeth is a member of the International Society of Glass Bead Makers.