Mistarian Roses LLC was born October 31, 2008. Two sisters, Julie and Jen Mistaria are extremely alike and yet distinctly different, their creative energies bring forth a unique mix of functional and decorative art for people to enjoy. They express themselves through beading, textiles, metal working and warm glass.

In 2012, the two sisters began to feel cramped in Julie's two car garage, aka "The Studio" and looked at their long term goals. Aside from wanting a studio with enough space for larger kilns, cold working equipment, and heat, they each had a desire to build a resource center where like minded - and differently minded - folks could gather, learn, share, and create art. In December, they signed a lease for a space on 4th Street in the Bremerton Arts District. The doors were opened on April 5th, 2013.

Read our artist statements below.

Today, art created by the artists of Mistarian Roses, LLC is collected around the world.

Julie Mistaria
"I weave."

Julie Mistaria discovered the key to unlocking her artistic expression in 1999 when she first tried off-loom bead weaving. Thus began nearly two decades of selling her beaded jewelry. The next discovery came in 2007 from being introduced to kiln formed glass art. After voracious learning and an obsessive drive to transform glass with heat in a kiln, Julie began professionally selling her glasswork with her sister  under Mistarian Roses, LLC. In 2013 Julie added chain maille to her repertoire.

"Because. Glass and metal belong together."

Always creating, you will find Julie goes everywhere with her knitting bag, beading or maille travel projects, or at the very least her sketchbook to capture sudden inspirations.

"I weave glass. I weave metal and stone. I weave fibers and on the rare occasion, I weave words into mediocre lines of poetry."

Jenifer Mistaria

Jen's first foray into creation was to sew her Barbie doll a new gown. She further explored textile art, drawing, pen and ink, ceramics, and painting. Yet, her drawings were sketches, to be created later on with metal and "something else".

In 2007, Jen took an introductory class in fused glass. Finally, all the things clicked - vibrant colors, flowing lines, sharp lines, geometric shapes, two dimensions and yet the depth of three dimensions. She realized the images trapped in her mind were meant to be expressed in glass. Throughout this time, Jen also harbored a love of metal, particularly aluminum. She incorporates aluminum into many of her fused glass pieces, experimenting with the way aluminum reacts to different colors of glass. Although firing glass in itself is a controlled process, the final outcome is unpredictable in the way the metal looks, the colors, and the amount of bubbling.

Jen is particularly fascinated with the way aluminum can bleed and thread through colors of glass and sometimes obtains a luminosity within a bubble that takes on a magical element.