Beth Fischer graduated with a BFA in painting from The Swain School of Design, where she studied with the painter David Smith, a student of the colorist, Hans Hoffman, himself a student of Josef Albers, the “Father of Colorism”. She was particularly influenced by the art of the turn of the century impressionists and the Fauvists: Chagall, Vlamink, Matisse, Roualt and Braque—with their strong emphasis on color, light, and abstract shape.

She learned that many of the artists she was drawn to had also worked in stained glass design and construction, but it wasn’t until she discovered the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, himself an accomplished painter, that she knew she’d found her medium. All the elements she strove for in her paintings translated to glass: vibrancy of color, line quality, and the breaking of images down into abstract shapes while often retaining a figurative quality.

After graduation she apprenticed as a stained glass artist, concentrating on the copper foil technique developed by Tiffany. Unlike the more traditional method of using lead came (or lead strips) usually associated with stained glass, copper foil allows for control of line quality, which is absolutely integral to her work.