West Reading Avenues Winter 2020-2021 - 23

Arts & Culture in the Community

Expressions
in Glass
O

riginally conceived by sculptor Ed Merritt and
inspired by colorful glass shards discarded on hot
studio floors, these beautiful glass sculptures were
born. Our line combines the beauty of sculpture with the
functionality of affordable hand-crafted products.

Merritt has exhibited his sculptures nationally and
internationally and his design lines have sold in many fine
craft galleries and museum stores including the Museum
of Fine Arts Boston, MA, The Society of Arts and Crafts
Boston, MA, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Santa
Barbara Museum of Art, CA, and the Yale Museum, CT.
Merritt sold the rights to his line of Love Letters to Sallie
Weaver and Pat Gardner. Today they proudly market their
artisan-made glass blocks under the name of Expressions
in Glass™.
Sallie Weaver has an extensive background in managing and
owning several businesses. Prior to her moving to Reading
she resided in Simsbury, Connecticut where she owned, over
a period of 12 years, 14 fitness and weight loss facilities for
woman in Connecticut and Massachusetts. She moved to
Reading in 1981 to purchase out of bankruptcy, a division
of Penndale Industries called Gym-Kin/GK, a manufacturer
of gymnastic apparel. At the time of purchase GK had 35
employees and a bad reputation for quality and delivery. Over
the next 29 years GK became the world's leading supplier
of gymnastic apparel and the top outfitter to many Olympic
Teams in the summer Olympic games.

One of the artisan made products that It's a Gift! sold was
Ed Merritt's line of Love Letters. When Sallie found that this
company was for sale, she went into partnership with Pat Gardner,
purchased the company and Expressions in Glass was formed.
Patrick Gardner is an electrician by trade for over 20+plus years
and during that time he also purchased a Wise snack route and
box truck. He spent the next 18 months building a route and
customers and then opted to sell the box truck and focus on
helping with the adopt a family program that he and his wife
started through a local church. The program provides families
with meals for the holidays and other cupboard staples as well
as essential household necessities.
Sallie chose Pat Gardner as her partner because they share the
same strong religious beliefs as well as a firm desire to give
back to the community. Their vision for Expressions in Glass
is to eventually donate a portion of the profits to local and
national charities.

In 2010 Sallie retired from GK and started volunteering
and giving back to her community, a desire that she had
for many years. She started a new volunteer program at a
local hospital to help patients without families so that they
could have someone to visit with them and assist with any
personal needs. After this program was up and running
Sallie looked to other ways that she could volunteer and help
her community. In 2013 she became president of a not for
profit organization called Woman's Exchange / It's a Gift!
until its unfortunate closing, like so many other small brick
and mortar stores, in July 2020.
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West Reading Avenues Winter 2020-2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of West Reading Avenues Winter 2020-2021
