Colleen Ott, glass artist, began her career in 1968 at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. In 1971, Professors Dr. Robert Bailey and Doug Johnson convinced her that studying a year abroad would advance her career. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London, England and the Eisch Factory in Frauanau, Germany. Upon her return, she received her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1973. This was followed by additional studies at Ohio State University-Athens in 1976 where she received a Master of Art degree. Her Master of Fine Arts degree in glass sculpture was obtained at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977. She then went on to build a studio called the Mineral Point (WI) Foundry and Glass Artist's Studio where she taught classes, gave demonstrations, and conducted tours and seminars. This was in addition to exhibiting her own work in exhibitions and at art fairs around the country. From 1983 to 1987, Colleen was a Glass Artist Assistant at (Harvey) Littleton and Company in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where she organized and oversaw studio activities for European and American glass artists.

In 1988 she returned to Wisconsin to build a studio near her family close to Sauk City. Here she continued creating work and exhibiting her work traveling to shows and gallery exhibitions. In 1998 Colleen bought an old restaurant in the small tourist town of Spring Green. After converting the building to a gallery and glass studio, she taught University of Wisconsin-Platteville students in her shop for sculpture credits and she has taught drawing and silversmithing at the Madison (WI) Area Technical College extension program. In addition, she organized and built the facility for the Peter Morris Glass Studio in Winona, Minnesota. Colleen has received many awards for her work as well as publicity in numerous magazines, books, and newspapers. She comments, "Glass has an intelligence, a spirit, and a potential for life that no other medium has. Glass is so immediate it requires the motions of a ballerina, the strength of a weight lifter, and the vitality of a childs."