Deanna Dionne is a city dweller. As a city dweller with only street parking, she’s had to deal with car break-ins several times a year. When Deanna Dionne moved to Cleveland from Michigan in late 2014, her car was broken into within the first week. After noticing that car break-ins were all too common, she started collecting the glass and experimenting with creating jewelry.
The daughter of a sculptor and a novelist, Deanna moved to the NEO area to pursue her artistic interests. One of those interests was a desire to create and work with glass. With a plentiful supply on Cleveland’s curbs, Dionne started sweeping glass right off the street and into her studio, launching Cleveland Street Glass in 2016.
“Car break-ins are common in urban areas, a crime which results in someone’s personal property being left for debris on the curb,” Deanna says. “I collect glass from these car windows and transform it into jewelry. Victims can wear the pieces as a display of fortitude, something to stand up to the invisible perpetrator they are powerless against.”
Deanna is a self-taught jewelry designer with a background in branding and designing wristwatches. When her car was broken into, she thought the glass glittering in the sunlight was pretty, and started working with it by developing her technique, learning through experimentation about the tempered glass. The technique is similar to stained glass, edging each individual piece with a silver alloy. Smaller pieces of glass are utilized by mixing with resin in custom shapes and handmade molds. Every piece is one-of-a-kind with an empowering story of reclamation.
“Metaphorically, the jewelry speaks to a larger story of finding positives within the negative, displaying resilience, and how beauty exists in the broken,” explains Deanna. “At times we may feel unrepairable, but the ability to embrace our scars and flaws is a powerful accomplishment. This jewelry serves as a reminder of self-acceptance.”
Getting your car broken into can be a big personal violation. Dionne considers it an empowering act to reclaim the glass left as debris on the street and adding value back to it, making it into a jewel.
“It’s a reminder that although we may feel broken, our cracks can be what make us beautiful. Tempered auto glass has a fascinating quality of breaking into small cubes, but often chips will keep together, producing an intricate cracked effect,” Deanna continues. “I work with the shapes that are naturally created from the break, preserving them without manipulation. This results in an organic quality to the work which plays with delicacy and boldness.”
Deanna’s artistic parents have been a huge influence on her choice in becoming an artist and entrepreneur.
“They actually met both selling at an art show in the ’70s. As a child they would take me along to art shows around Michigan selling my father’s ceramic sculptures of classic cars. I was always proud that one of his pieces is in the Besser Museum in Alpena,” she exudes. “I also learned a lot from my mother when helping her to run writers’ conferences. I’m proud that her latest novel, The Marsh King’s Daughter — it’s an international bestseller and published in 25 different languages! The support from my parents has been invaluable, and I love that they understand my life path, including when I turned down a well-paying corporate job offer, and they continue to encourage me even when times are hard.”
Dionne can be found selling her one-of-a-kind jewelry at the Cleveland Flea every month, and other art shows like Lakewood Arts Festival, Waterloo Arts Fest, BAYArts, and Night Market Cleveland in AsiaTown. When she’s not working on art and jewelry, she loves designing products, illustrations, websites, and marketing materials for startups, makers and businesses.
[Written By Kendall Embrescia-Hridel]
One Response to “Cleveland Street Glass Turns Broken into Beautiful”
Marian Walker
Great article. It gives everyone an insight into how to make something beautiful out of something ugly.
You have succeed in doing that Your pieces are truly inspiring!