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Artist statement
Every
material contributes a unique visual dialogue.
For Glass it is the transparency. As a sculptural material it stands
alone: what defines the work is not necessarily dependent on the
outside surfaces. Since this interior space is of great interest to
me, I have chosen to create sculptures that draw the viewer in.
While experimenting with color, I have previously used silver
nitrate and gold chloride to define that inner surface, my current
work employs dichroic coating for colors. When the glass is slumped,
the interior layers bend to reveal a remarkable variety of light
reflection and colors. This causes the piece to change as the viewer
moves around it.
Technique
The pieces are created in stages with
two grind and polish operations and three oven stages.
First the glass is sized in the oven. It is heated to a temperature
where it will soften, in a mold that will give the desired shape and
thickness. These pieces are ground and polished, then stacked with
the dichroic coated ones (previously coated) inserted
inbetween.
The glass is returned to the oven where it is fused into a solid
block.
After trimming, the block is put back into the oven where it is
slumped. This slumping is done by holding the glass off the
bottom of the oven. The oven is heated to a temperature that makes
the center drop. This pulls the color down causing it to bend.
It
also pulls the colors apart to form patterns on the interior
surfaces. This will cause the light to come off at different angles,
and the color changes as the viewer moves around the finished piece.
Because glass needs to be heated and cooled slowly, each of the oven
steps takes a week; thicker pieces
(4 ½ - 5 “) take longer.
At this point the oven work is done
and the final cutting and polishing begins. The desired shape is
roughed out on a diamond saw then it is ground.
First with a 60 grit
diamond bonded disc, then with the following sequence: 140, 270,
320, and 600 grit discs. At this point it is polished using cerium
oxide.
The entire oven and grinding process may take one month. During this
process as much as half the glass is cut off the initial block. |
Confetti
Confetti, once released, all control
is lost, and gravity and wind are what it responds to. All
associations are by chance, it is in constant flux always moving
from what it was to what it will become, always changing, always
random, and always different.
I have two approaches to the idea of
confetti.
Both involve stopping the process and looking at it the way a camera
might record it.
The first approach deals with just that aspect, it is about
randomness, being un-orderly.
The second approach deals with the same randomness, but also with
possibilities.
What will it become?
Will it move left, right or down?
From this static state what can it be next,
what are its possibilities?
Unfolding
This piece consists of fused and
slumped dichroic glass. After slumping, the pieces are cut (the
unfolding), and laid to form a pattern. The process is rigid in
terms of the preparation, fusing, slumping, grinding and polishing.
Conversely, the assembly is approached very loosely.
I have a vague idea of the look I want, but it is during assembly
that the piece comes together.
The relationship between the parts is decided.
Tops and bottoms are ground and polished, then attached to the base.
I want the over-all look to be very loose with the relationship of
the color holding everything together.
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