Glass Sculptures
When creating my sculptures, I have a few goals. The first is that people will want to touch them. The second is that they will be drawn inside them. The third is that they will be filled with wonder on some level.
When I make any of my sculptures, there is a point in the process where I endeavour to no longer touch the piece. The sooner in the process this happens, the better I feel. All of the sculptures basically start with a ball of glass on the blow pipe. After that I create a set of initial conditions by scoring, perforating and pushing the molten glass around. After that it is the playing with gravity and centripetal forces that lets the piece grow into its final shape. When that has been reached the glass is allowed to freeze and the piece put in the anealer.
During this process there are what I call moments of stable beauty,that is when the piece looks as if it may well be finished; however, in any given piece there can be a series of these moments, and if you have the courage to continue to let the forces of nature work on it, you may well find another even more appealing stable point. It must be said though that there is a last stable point of beauty for each piece, and once passed there is no going back.
After coming out of the anealer there is another creative opportunity in the cold working phase. The work here is much more brutal, but still can enhance the work. It involves setting the base, Followed by possible cutting and sandblasting. It must be said that the piece is not over until the piece is sold, as it can always be pulled from the show room for more of this type of manipulation.
Another feature of glass is that it plays with the light that falls on it. It can reflect it, transmit it, refract it, focus it and split it up into its constituent parts. This toyed with light is then thrown back into the volume in which the piece lives. When it then falls on another surface there can be further images created, and these images can change as the light its self changes. Also the body of a piece will feed off of other colours in the room, picking these up and throwing them back at your eyes. All this gives another possibility for a creative moment. Once a piece is acquired and taken in to the home it should be moved around and tried in different positions that it might feed off of differing environments, and create new environments in which to live.
During this process there are what I call moments of stable beauty,that is when the piece looks as if it may well be finished; however, in any given piece there can be a series of these moments, and if you have the courage to continue to let the forces of nature work on it, you may well find another even more appealing stable point. It must be said though that there is a last stable point of beauty for each piece, and once passed there is no going back.
After coming out of the anealer there is another creative opportunity in the cold working phase. The work here is much more brutal, but still can enhance the work. It involves setting the base, Followed by possible cutting and sandblasting. It must be said that the piece is not over until the piece is sold, as it can always be pulled from the show room for more of this type of manipulation.
Another feature of glass is that it plays with the light that falls on it. It can reflect it, transmit it, refract it, focus it and split it up into its constituent parts. This toyed with light is then thrown back into the volume in which the piece lives. When it then falls on another surface there can be further images created, and these images can change as the light its self changes. Also the body of a piece will feed off of other colours in the room, picking these up and throwing them back at your eyes. All this gives another possibility for a creative moment. Once a piece is acquired and taken in to the home it should be moved around and tried in different positions that it might feed off of differing environments, and create new environments in which to live.