When the hands of a potter-or a physical therapist-are compromised by unexplained muscle weakness, that professional's response could understandably be despair.

But for Barbara Schulman-Kirwin, the mysterious problem that began affecting her hands, joints, and general health more than a decade ago has taken her on what she sees as a "healing journey."

First, it led her to turn from a successful start in pottery (meant to be her second career, following many years as a physical therapist), to working in a much lighter medium, glass. The new form of artistic expression led Barbara to found BSK Design at Chroma Gallery.

Now, the journey is leading Barbara to combine her professional medical expertise with a personal and educational understanding of emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of health, in order to help others. As a result, Barbara plans to soon move on from her time at Chroma to offering her services as an integrative health professional.

"This community has been so supportive of me as a budding new artist," says Barbara. "It's kept me afloat in a difficult economic recession, allowing me not only to exist, but to flourish."

Make no mistake-Chroma Gallery is not closing. The fascinating shop and design studio inside the back half of a Quonset hut (fronted by Perk on Church) is a collaborative artists' space shared by Barbara with artists Eve Comstock (www.evesapparel.net) and Jackie McGuire (www.creekchic.com). Barbara's retail offerings include architectural glass installations, dichroic glass jewelry, sculpture, fused glass plates, and Judaica. She is hoping another glass artist or inspired talent will take over her space at the gallery, which she created from the ground up.

"This is going to be bittersweet," Barbara says of her decision. "It's been fantastic, but I find myself being pulled to go back into health to help others because of all I've experienced."

That experience began 13 years ago. As a busy mom of three, wife, and practicing physical therapist at the time, "I knew my body," says Barbara, who began experiencing odd symptoms such as swollen hands and feet. The symptoms increased to a litany of problems that would "pop up," says Barbara, who at the time had just decided to follow her dream of becoming a potter and was completing four years of study and craft at Guilford Art Center.

Tested for Lyme disease with negative results each time, Barbara continued experiencing periodic and sometimes frightening declines in her strength and health without receiving a diagnosis for her condition. Still, she continued working with clay and feeding her artistic passion.

Then, "I had a viral episode that affected both hands and feet bilaterally, and after that I could not physically throw on the wheel," she says. "So I took a glass-fusing workshop. I thought I could try it until I could get this hand-thing resolved. I took one look at the glass and I was smitten!"

Barbara began creating unique, beautifully hued jewelry in the form of glass pendants.

"I was selling them off my neck!" recalls the artist, laughing. "So I really saw my health problem as a gift which turned me toward this. I had loved pottery, but when I first saw glass-all the colors-it was me. I felt I had arrived home."

While still wrestling with her symptoms, Barbara began working on glass design from her home and soon began to consider creating a small gallery in which she could produce jewelry and other glass art to meet growing demand.

"I was taking over the house! I had three little children at the time and if mommy was checking the kiln during dinner, sometimes she didn't come back!" says Barbara. "I had an architect friend and I asked her about possibly adding a studio in our backyard. And she asked me, 'Is that your dream?'"

Barbara gave the question a lot of thought, during which time she came across an article about a potter working from her own studio/gallery. Barbara realized that was her dream.

"I started looking for a place in town. The first two fell apart. The third place was the back half of a Quonset hut. It was perfect," says Barbara, who intentionally designed the space with the architect as a cooperative where she could work and sell with a few other artists.

As Chroma Gallery came to be, Barbara continued to follow her artistic passion, but her persistent health issues remained. Issues flaring up ranged from joint pain to periodic memory loss, bouts of depression, and episodes of problems with her eyesight.

"For 10 years, I was living with roaming joint pain. I had three negative Lyme disease tests. Nobody knew what the problem was. It just was."

At one point, seeking the assistance of a physical therapist for relief from lower spine and hip pain, the therapist said to Barbara, "Tell me your story," recalls Barbara. She did, after which the therapist responded, "You have chronic Lyme disease."

"I had heard of Lyme disease, but not chronic Lyme disease," says Barbara, who threw herself into the task of researching any and all protocols that could help. "I didn't want to just put myself on a course of antibiotics. I thought I'd try a holistic approach."

Then, Barbara experienced an epiphany-why not combine the two? The tipping point came when she turned to a New York doctor specializing in chronic Lyme treatment. Based on symptoms she was experiencing, Barbara was put on those antibiotics that could best address the current problem. Being prescribed changing antibiotics helped "validate me in terms of my symptoms," she says, "but I also knew other [non-traditional] aspects of health could help. There is a huge amount of modalities and treatments out there. The holistic health world is exploding."

As a result, Barbara began managing her symptoms with a combination of therapies and enjoying a quality of life that at one point she thought would never return. Her own experience convinced her that combining western medicine with spiritual, emotional, and psychological protocols similar to those she undertook will help heal others.

"A few months ago as I was being treated, I felt myself being pulled back into the medical world," says Barbara. "I have a master's in physical therapy and what I've added is incorporating the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of health. I see myself as being a health care professional."

The realization was pinned to additional learning Barbara had been undertaking, including a year-long program now nearing completion with her psychology mentor, Dr. Dorothy Martin-Nevell, Ph.D., of Essex.

"I fell in love with her message," says Barbara, who first heard Martin-Nevell speak at a women's conference. "Now, I'm at the very end of my healing journey. I want to help other people get through their journey. It needs to take the courage of the patient to have the strength to go forward. I want to help empower them and help them regain their health."

Contact Barbara Shulman-Kirwin at Chroma Gallery, 20c Church Street, Guilford, at 203-453-3111, or bsk@bskdesign.net.