Loy Allen is a South Dakota native who returned to the Black Hills after studying design at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (B.A., 1975).

After learning basic lampworking in South Dakota, Ms. Allen studied advanced glass techniques at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and at The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.  She has been self-employed as a flameworker since 1979.  My inspiration comes from the natural world, the hills and plains of Dakota. Stylistically, I am inspired by the art of the Art Nouveau age. Like the artists of that time, I am interested in a depiction of plant and animal life in a pantheistic spirit. My natural forms are meant to be expressive without being strictly realistic. I hope my work evokes the mystery and power of nature in a celebratory feminine voice.