Inspired as a child by visiting the Murano glassmakers of Venice, Italy, and later by the LA-based Light and Space movement, she cultivated a lifelong fascination for the interaction of light, color, and form with vitreous as well as resin-based light-reactive materials.  In tandem with her passion for the physics of light, she studied gene activation during the heyday of the Human Genome Project. Patricia conducted scientific work in the field of ‘genetic engineering’, including research that employed electron and light transmission microscopy.  This work additionally informed her understanding of light as both a physical phenomenon, and as a provenance for knowledge and insight. 

Patricia Buse, as principal designer of Pale Blaze, has drawn from these understandings to creatively exploit how light shapes perception. The objects she creates are designed to actively blur the line between solid and fluid. In full sunlight, the sculptures act as shapeshifters, casting vibrant mutating shadows and becoming studies of transformation. Each sculpture continually responds to its environment by bringing movement, light and energy into any space.