Paula Mandel received degrees in Fine Arts and Psychology from Temple University.  She worked in oils/mixed media for 25 years, creating psychological portraits, never imagining her future involved glass sculpture. Once hooked on the medium, however, she determined to learn every glass technique offered.  She embarked on a four year journey, first taking her to Lucartha Kohler at University of the Arts. She studied flameworking, kiln-casting, fusing, stained glass and coldworking at Corning and Urban Glass with Judith Schaechter followed by 2 years in the Fine Arts Degree program at Salem Community College with Anna Boothe, Paul De Marco and Paul Stankard.

Mandel often melds glass with other materials such as fabric, hardware, and natural materials, adding color, texture and pattern to her sculptures.  Her work was included in volume 1 of Best in America: Glass Artists and Artisans as well as the Best of Philadelphia Glass Artists exhibit at the National Liberty Museum , Women Working in Glass at Rosemont College, and the Temple Judea Museum. Her interactive toy sculptures which utilize glass have been exhibited in museums, colleges and galleries in and around Philadelphia, Princeton and Pittsburgh. She is a prize winner in the International Flameworking Conference and was a featured artist for the International Glass Art Society. Mandel, along with co-director Joan Myerson Shrager co-founded the award-winning after-school program, The Stained Glass Project: Window That Open Doors, now in entering its 16^th year.