This craft takes patience and care. Smukler starts with varying kinds of glass, sometimes also interweaving metal. He designs from intuition. “When I’ve sketched anything in advance, it becomes overworked intellectually,” he explains. “I try to create an emotional backdrop; either a landscape, air or waterscape, and then I attempt to superimpose an emotional feeling on top of it.” After the piece has been shaped, it is then placed in a slowly heated kiln that reaches up to fifteen hundred degrees. When the work emerges from the kiln, it cools and the glass has formed into beautiful, translucent panels with sharp, geometric shapes and seductive curves that change colors in the light. In many of his pieces, one detects traces of his favorite artist, Kandinsky, who was also a lawyer and an artist.

Smukler’s artistic endeavors are not an idle hobby. He has exhibited in over twenty galleries across the nation as well as having art in private collections. In addition, he runs his own studio in Boca Raton, where he is able to be fully dedicated to his art in a way he was unable to do as a lawyer. “I practiced law for thirty years. Law is a jealous mistress.” Now, he can give himself fully to the work he loves best.

Smukler remains an avid Nittany Lion fan and travels to State College every year. He has also bequeathed his private art collection to the Palmer Museum at Penn State. “My four years at Penn State were a tremendous experience. I have a great sense of pride as an alumnus.”