Professions listed on Lisa Tate’s resume seem incongruous—museum director, award-winning cameo glass artist, and hang glider pilot. Yet they all are harmonious—expressions of her reverence for nature instilled during her Montana childhood and honed as an adult in Boise.
“Whatever I do, my goal is to create communities and gathering places so people come together to do what they love, encourage and inspire each other and share joy,” said Tate, 57, executive director of the nonprofit National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula, Montana, and a glass artist. “I’ve always been inclined to make things with my hands and been drawn to glass. I also have a skill for organizing people and planning events and projects.”
National Museum of Forest Service History director since 2016, Tate is leading the construction of the National Conservation Legacy and Education Center, a $10 million 30,000-square-foot facility scheduled for groundbreaking in 2023 near the museum.
“I care greatly about our public lands,” she said. “The new center will showcase America’s conservation history and the management legacy of the Forest Service and its many partners.”
To relax after work, Tate creates collectible glass art and teaches glass blowing classes at her studio near Florence. She specializes in cameo glass, a luxury glass created by engraving or etching designs in the blown layers of glass.
She has won awards at national art shows, has pieces in two permanent museum collections, and sells to private collectors nationwide and in the Middle East. Her colorful bowls, platters, and vases are designed with ginkgo leaves, wildflowers, birds in flight, frogs, fish, and horses.
“I’ve always been fascinated with and inspired by the ways we transform ourselves throughout our lives,” she wrote in her artist’s statement. “Glass has transformed me in ways that are difficult to describe with words. Some of my work is drawn from aspects of my past experiences and some is drawn from dream-state surrealism. Through my work, I try to faithfully express my life’s passions, my growth, and my voice.”
Tate’s love of nature was launched during childhood when she explored Sentinel Mountain, a hang gliding launch site, southeast of Missoula.
“People turned their horses out to graze on open range, and I loved horses, so I’d grab a bridle and see which one would let me ride,” she says. “I always found one. We would ride all over the mountain. Wildlife seems to accept horse and rider, so I’d see all kinds of things I might not have seen if I were hiking.
One day while riding, she sensed something overhead, although she heard nothing. A hang glider pilot waved to her while flying 50 feet above her.
“At age 12, it was the coolest thing and blew my mind,” she said. “I knew I’d fly one day. Hang gliding became my life for more than 30 years. I no longer fly but miss it and loved seeing the world from the air.”
Until she was old enough to take hang glider lessons, she taught herself to etch and engrave glass with her dad’s Dremel tool.
“I became proficient and earned money doing it,” she said. “I formally studied glass and became fascinated with Roman cameo glass. It’s an ancient art of blowing multiple layers of color in glass, then cutting through the layers to reveal a design.”
The technique became popular in the Roman Empire about 50 BC. Cameo glass was also heavily used by Islamic engravers in the 10th century.
“I vowed to learn that art one day, too,” she said.
After graduating from high school, Tate researched places where she could fly a hang glider year-round and moved to Boise, Idaho, her home for the next three decades. She juggled hang gliding, creating and selling her glass art, and working for nonprofits. She studied nonprofit management, ultimately receiving her master’s degree.
“The weather there is mild enough, so you can fly year-round, even during winter,” Tate said.
For two decades, she organized glider fly-ins at internationally renowned King Mountain in central Idaho and flew to a personal record of 17,000 feet. She also served as president of the National Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association for eight years.
When she was not flying, she worked as a nonprofit consultant for the City of Boise and with Zoo Boise. She also worked as the executive director of the Red River Zoo in Fargo, North Dakota, a museum specializing in conservation of the world’s rarest cold-climate species. During this time, she served as an accreditation inspector for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
She also studied glass blowing and engraving at the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Francisco, Pratt Fine Art Center in Seattle, and Corning Studio in Corning, New York.
Needing a place to hone her craft, she converted her Boise garage into a glass-blowing studio and began renting it to local artists.
“I kept learning techniques from the artists who rented time in my studio,” she says. “It took more than eight years to become proficient.”
With her blended skills of pilot, artist, and nonprofit manager, she returned home to Missoula after finding her current job in a trade publication for museums.
“I always knew I’d come home to Missoula,” she said. “My parents live here, and I wanted to be closer to family. It just took longer than I originally thought. Life takes you in different directions.”
Back in her hometown, life continued to lead her in different directions. She opened a studio and teaches glass-blowing classes. She says it is gratifying to see interest and support grow for her glass classes as well as the new conservation history museum.
“I’d like to see a community of local glass artists here,” she says. “It’s exciting, too, to see the support growing for the new conservation center. I’ve been lucky in life to always have jobs I’ve loved. I’m grateful for that.” ISI
Take a virtual tour of the museum’s exhibits at forestservicemuseum.org/exhibits/ or of her glass art gallery at lisatateglass.com.
