Working with Glass

This is an image of one of the glass pieces I made this summer.

I have been having a deep love affair with glass for some time now...I'd have to say 12 years - wow! I've had an on and off again relationship, sometimes amorously lost in its grip and other times unable to come to terms with the cost of such an attraction. Glass is not a cheap interest. In addition, you need equipment, facilities that are just not as accesible on the east coast as they are on the west coast.

I have been to Pilchuck Glass school twice on scholarship. Pilchuck is in Seattle, WA. I've taken glass classes at Haystack in Deer Isle, Maine, Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY, Peter's Valley Craft Center in Layton, NJ and Bullseye Glass, in Portland Oregon. I've blown, sand-casted, kiln-casted, lampworked, fused and slumped glass. For the longest, all I could afford to do when I got back home after a class, was strike up a small tank of Mapp gas and make beads. Beads that once upon a time, got annealed only by soaking in a tin of vermiculite. Then there was all my late nights with stained glass a medium that hot glass folks call cold glass connections. Mind you, the majority of the time, I'm a painter and an illustrator. So when I tumbled on the work of artist Catherine Newell, I thought what is this? Is it possible you can draw on glass? No, I don't mean with Pebeo glass paint- but with the glass itself?

I signed up for a class called Painting with Light taught by artist Tom Jacobs at Bullseye Glass. Lets just say, I am forever changed and I found a soul mate. No, not Tom (sorry Tom), but drawing on glass with frit (powdered, crushed and pulverized glass). I found what I could afford to do - and what I was meant to do with glass...finally.

Update on Monday, February 11, 2008 at 12:52PM by Amarettogirl

playing with layering I think that whenever you work with a specific medium (and since I am so varied in my interest) you have to ask yourself why? For example, why draw that on glass with glass?? Why not just do it on paper? What are the inherent qualities of that particular medium that makes working in it so necessary? In addition, I've heard it said that glass is 'inherently' aesthetically pleasing and therefore any thing a person does in it - will always look good, even if its not. Well, that's a lot to process. I think I'm after the fragility, the refractory aspects and the transparency of the glass. In this follow-up I've posted a possible layering effect.

Welcome to my blog!

Image by Inspiring Artist Vanessa Beecroft

Well, its finally here - my blog!

As an artist, and a maker, I am deeply invested in seeing how designing one's own life alongside of principles of balance and peace can be pursued actively. Hopefully, that comes through in the artwork that I produce and is displayed here on this site.

For my first blog, I wanted to highlight some inspirational work from other artists. First, please check out the work of painter Kehinde Wiley, a Harlem-based artist who has been a major inspiration in my Herstory Re-Envisioned project (images of which can be seen in my Herstory portfolio). In addition, I am particularly inlove with this Vanessa Beecroft image, South Sudan. It is powerful, riveting and technically inspirational to say the least.

I find that it's really difficult to come to peace with art making these days. Especially, in such a visually saturated society, like we have here in the US. I've come to a point and time in my life where I feel strongly about being an agent of change. Lately, I've struggled with abandoning the technical proficiency of my artistic training for deeper meaning and purpose. I'm also a 'big-time' crafter. I cannot stand the prevalent divide among craft and fine art. For anyone who holds my position, we are makers and to be makers today is to be informed by all aspects of image-making. We are in the middle of a DIY revolution from podcasting, YouTube to blogging. I think that force alone, will soon erase the divide. I think the most important thing is simply to be conscious and thoughtful of what you produce, how and why.