Se Fin! Glass Project Installed

After several weeks the art glass piece collaboration is finally hanging in Laura and David's home. Marek, the wood man extraordinaire finished the framing and we were able to install the piece this evening. This is a shot from the street view looking in. Had it been a bright sunny day we would have had better luck photographing from the interior, however, the light just did not lend itself well to a good photo. I will return to do more shots. If you scroll down you can see the project progression. It was a wonderful collaboration with a lovely couple.

Just a reminder that Ravenswood Art Walk is October 3rd and 4th and the studio will be open for viewing and purchasing those Christmas presents early! We want the Walk to be a big success so please visit http://www.ravenswoodartwalk.org to view other amazing artists that will be showing thier work!

I've been working on a new series of pieces and will send a couple of teaser shots out this weekend. I hope everyone is enjoying an oddly Autmunal summer, who knows what Autumn will bring! Given the start of my PhD program next Monday I hope I will have occasion to drop a note now and then. Wish me luck!

Wild Flowers in Glass

Happy Sunday to everyone! It's a hot muggy day here in Chicago so I thought it would be a good time to snap some photos in my "grotto" glass studio. It's a "garden unit" so although it has lots of windows for light, it stays fairly cool even on the warmest of days. I wanted to snap some shots of one of the other pieces I did for the Faculty Art Show. This is very much reminiscent of the Steph Brady style of combining fused, stained and sandblasted art elements. If anyone out there knows how to photog glass, please get in touch with me because I have so much trouble capturing the color and detail simultaneously. So, I use a black background to capture sandblast detail and white background to capture the color of the glass. This piece is about 12" x 16" and would hang nicely in a window. The great thing with glass is that it changes depending on the light coming in through the course of the day.

Fused Glass Cabinet Door Panels

My dear friend Henry who is now working in Amsterdam referred a college buddy of his, Klay to me about a year and 1/2 ago to do a stained glass piece for what eventually will be an amazing Wine cellar space in his new home. As we have been working on the design for that project for that same year and a half (Klay keeps modifiying the design) we decided to do a couple of glass projects in between. He had 3 cabinet doors that he wanted to be glass. So, we took the image that he has on the rest of the doors in wood and translated it into glass. We fused this great "ice" design glass onto semi-clear fused pieces. They mirror the rest of the cabinetry but are transparent enough that he will be able to put some of his glass wear and collectibles for people to see. He is planning on installing a glass shelf rather than a wooden one. Hope you enjoy it! I'll eventually post the Stained glass window for his Wine room, when we finish a design!

Glass Art at The Faculty Art Show

Not much time to write but here is a quick pic of the 3 pieces that I did for the Art Show at The Chicago School. The reception was quite nice and we had a good turn out. More later and a closer look at the bowl pic on the left. These were a combination of glass methods but mostly inlaid fusing was used! Enjoy.

The Chicago School Faculty Art Show

The business of psychology, which I am in full time, is a wonderful and fulfilling career. As stated on my website http://www.glassartdesigner.com I feel the psychology of art is an amazing aspect to contemplate (when one has time). The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is a great place to work because they allow you the freedom to explore yourself in the sense of being a "whole" person, not just as an academic or an employee. Because we have a number of faculty and staff members who express themselves through art in their free(er) time, I was invited to take part in an art exhibition that will be made up entirely of TCS staff and faculty.

Although some of my colleagues and students are aware that I do glass art, there have not been many opportunities to display the work that I have created. This poses a bit of a problem in that I would like to show some of my better work. As much of the work I do is comissioned, the art itself in the hands of the owners. So in addition to the other recent works I've posted I've been working on a couple of "special" items for the show that will take place on the 23rd of this month! So, guess what I'll be doing this weekend? Yup, another exciting Saturday night with me playing with my glass (hmmm, that almost sounds inappropriate) haha.

I also decided to commit to doing the Ravenswood Art Walk this year which will be occuring October 3rd and 4th. For those of you in the Chicago land area it would be a great opportunity for you to come out to the Ravenswood corridor and see some amazing artists at work AND purchase their art!

I get to submit 3 pieces in the Faculty show so I'll be snapping pics of the pieces I decide on by Sunday night. I have 2 near completion but the 3rd one is still taking shape in my head, which means I'll have to do some quick work!

I'll keep ya posted with pics and thanks for supporting my Blog by taking the time to view it!

The Glass Gods Have Smiled

Well, it was Sunday morning and as I sat watching a rerun of The Barefoot Contessa on The Food Network for the 2nd time and having my 3rd cup of coffee, it was clear that I was avoiding going to the studio. Opening the kiln can be extremely anxiety provoking even after "several" years of practice.
I decided that I would walk as it was a beautiful day here in Chicago, and it is only a mile from my house to the studio, so it was a good opportunity to get a little sun. Once arriving at the studio I managed to find 2 or 3 things to occupy my time before garnering enough courage to peek into the kiln.
Once I opened it, it was clear that the Glass Gods had smiled again (thank you, thank you) on 1807 W. Sunnyside. I could not have been happier with the results. I called David and Laura and due to some scheduling conflicts David was not able to join Laura and the girls for a "live" view of the piece. We all agreed that our vision had been accomplished. I promised to post the pic however so that David would be able to take a look.

I apologize that the image is a bit blurred due to me not having my tripod readily avilable and the piece is still lying on a piece of cardboard on top of the plywood board you saw the orignial design on in the previous blog. This will assist in keeping it "safe" in the interim.
I promise to do some final shots once it is framed and properly installed as the colors show much more brillant with the light shining through it.
Happy Sunday to all!

A collaborative Homage to Kandinsky

Well, after a long couple of weeks I am spending another exciting Saturday night posting to my blog site. Please don't be jealous of my life! haha

About 9 months ago a wonderful couple called and asked to have a glass piece created for their front door. We met and discussed some of their favorite types of art and one artist in particluar that they were extremely fond of was Wassily Kandinsky. Being a Kandinsky lover myself I was immediately intrigued. Over the course of several months and "many" drawings and renditions we arrived at the design that you see to your left.

Now, the initial plan was to make this piece in a traditional stained glass format (copper foiled or leaded) with a few fused pieces to make it more interesting. As we processed through the design (their two wonderful children were also involved as they did the initial "coloring in" of the design) we were struggling with how to make the fused elements be best incorporated into the traditional stained glass window. After much thought process I offered to see if they would be willing to take a chance on making the entire piece one fused glass element.

I say offered as it is a rather large piece (27" x 32") and would just barely fit in the kiln. I had never attempted a piece that large and with that many complex design elements in fused form. After our collective bravery was committed to, we began the process. Colors and textures were chosen for each of the elements and I began cutting and fitting together the glass. It ends up being much like a puzzle in that everything has to fit as close to perfectly as possible. My motto always is, "the better it goes in the kiln, the better it comes out". David and Laura were extremely patient through the process, which included numerous modifications of color and deciding how many firings we would have to do to accomplish the design. The initial firing would tack fuse the pieces together and squeeze out as many air bubbles as possible between the layers of glass ( up to about 1250 degrees), then a second firing was done to completely fuse the elements to become one large piece of 27" x 32" glass. See the picture to the right on top. All set and ready for the first firing! David and Laura made a special trip over to the studio for the "closing of the kiln". Of course, prayers were offered up to the "Glass Gods"!

As I sit here writing this the piece is going through it's 3rd firing. We decided to add specific design elements that would be tack fused onto the large piece to give it more depth and interest. Tomorrow morning when I open the kiln, I'll have finished the piece that took many months to create and bring to fruition. With fingers crossed and more prayers offered, the hope will be a collaborative effort that is satisfying to Laura, David and myself!

I promise to post a pic of the final piece. We will then create a wood frame for the piece that will match their front door and install within the next several weeks.

Collaboration is not always the most time efficient way to create art, but I truly believe it to be one of the most exciting. We bow to Wassily Kandinsky for his inspiration and the amazing art that he has offered the world!

Stay tuned =)