In 1967 Douglas Glenn started his education at a small state college in Nebraska. He majored in art, not knowing what media he would ultimately choose, but wanting to use what he was told was a natural ability. Thinking he would pursue a career in commercial art, his education took him on a journey through freehand drawing, watercolor, ceramics and art history. While studying three-dimensional design, he began to get a feel for the type of media that suited him: he enjoyed three dimensional things more than two dimensional art and liked working with metals, stone and wood.     

After leaving college and traveling for a few years, Doug began working in Flagstaff, Arizona where he learned the basics of silversmithing in the Southwest Indian style. He stayed in Flagstaff until the fall of

1974, then moved to Greeley, Colorado to set up his first retail operation. He took on all jobs and made whatever he was able to, teaching himself as he went along--until the summer of 1976 when he was burglarized and lost almost everything.