“Glass is very beautiful,” says Cecilia Cohen, “and both stained glass and lampworking — making glass beads with a flaming torch — require a lot of work with your hands, which I find very soothing.”

Cohen’s Wild Roses Glass Art Studio and Gallery is located in her home on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, where the greeting committee consists of her three rescued dachshunds. In one corner of the main room are a small work table, containers full of materials, and a wall of tools. A larger table is covered with projects in progress, and her windows are hung with completed glass pieces.

Cohen is a recent addition to the Long Beach Peninsula art scene, having returned from Israel to the United States in April. “Israel is a wonderful country,” she says, “but it can be exhausting to live there.”

Her background is an eclectic one. During the 35 years she spent in Israel, she worked in high tech and in factories; she painted houses, and she was a beekeeper. She also studied stained glass and metal smithing, and in 2011 she authored “The Glass Artist’s Studio Handbook: Traditional and Contemporary Techniques for Working with Glass,” a guide for beginning and intermediate glass artists.

Cohen discovered the Long Beach Peninsula on the Internet and fell in love with the area when she first saw it in person. “I feel I came to exactly the right place, exactly where I want to be. There really is a wonderful artists’ community here. They’re talented, welcoming and supportive.”

Currently she focuses primarily on stained glass and awaits the day when she can replace equipment left in Israel and return to lampworking. “Beads are a nice blend of creativity, color and skilled techniques,” she says. “Making beads is almost like a meditation.”

For over a decade, Cohen has been creating jewelry, mosaics, beads, fused glass, and stained glass. “You either love or hate working with glass,” she says. “I always tell people, ‘try it out on someone else’s equipment before purchasing your own.’” Cohen recommends the classes at Inspirations or M&D glass studios, both in Chinook.

Cohen’s studio is open to the public by appointment, with regular hours beginning in June, but she doesn’t expect to make a living solely on local sales. “To try to survive on tourism is limiting,” she says, “and Long Beach is small and can’t support the peninsula’s large arts community.” Instead, she has an international client base, with 99 percent of her sales online, primarily through Etsy. She also does private commissions of all sorts, including windows and keepsake boxes.

Cohen is committed to glass art, but if ever there were an artistic generalist, it is Cecilia Cohen. She has done photography, made paper craft, painted murals, written a book for teens (“Rahel, like Rachel from the Bible”), and designed knitwear. She’s even composed songs for children that were produced in print, CD, and video. “Some artists learn one thing and do it very well. They’re like a tree that sinks in deep roots. I’m more like shallow water that spreads everywhere,” she says.

Considering the many media she has worked in, it isn’t surprising that, “Mixed-media is where I want to go next.” Cohen envisions possibilities with books, glass and metal, and “art dolls with glass faces.”

“Nothing is ever lost,” says Cohen. “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop learning new things.”