PERSONAL: Jerman, 57, lives in Laurel in the Hocking Hills region. She has a son, Tobin, 31, and a daughter, Adria, 28.

HER CREATIVE COMPONENT: “I’ve always been an artist,” she says, evidenced by her first (paying) gig painting pet portraits for neighbors when she was 10. Her talent led her to study art at Ohio University, and to a living selling her artwork on the road, where she met husband Tim, a glass artist, at an art show in 1980.

HER TRAGEDY: Three weeks after their wedding, Tim suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed.

HER TRIUMPH: Although Tim had limited use of his fingers, the couple built a successful business, Jerman Art Glass (jermanartglass.com), over 23 years until Tim passed away in 2004. “We were artists together,” she says.

HER WORK: Known as flameworking or lampworking, Jerman’s specialty involves using a propane torch to melt rods of glass into clear borosilicate (a type of glass) at approximately 2,800 degrees. The result includes intricate undersea images encased in marbles, colorful bead jewelry and other glass pieces. Jerman also teaches glass-bead-making workshops at her studio, Liquid Light Center.

HER NEXT CHAPTER: Last year, Jerman enrolled in nursing school, a decision fueled in part by the slowing economy’s toll on art sales. “[Beyond art] the only other thing I know is how to take care of people,” she says. “Nursing school will guarantee that I will always be an artist.” And an Ohioan. “I love the Hocking Hills — the community, the landscape, the rocks, the hemlock trees. … I will never leave where I am.”