I had such a wonderful time presenting at PK on 7/15. It was exhilarating and so comforting to know how much support was sitting out in the audience. It was an experience that sits right up there at the top for me.
For those who weren’t in attendance…here is what I presented:
Glass in Yard:
I start with this photo as I think it sums up my creative person, at this point in my life… My creativity and passions don’t live in a vacuum. They are jammed right in there with the rest of my life. My almost 4 year old son, a full time job - I fit them in at night, on the weekends - I obsess over them while sitting in meetings, making the lunch, driving. They keep me sane.
Sketch:
This, this is what I do for fun. I dream this, I draw it when I’m nervous or scared or sitting doing nothing. It is a very calming sketch.
It makes me happy and has formed what I think of as part of my aesthetic.
Gelatine Process:
This is what my process looks like for my gelatin monotype prints. It’s pretty basic…rollerball ink, brayer, brushes, random cutouts I make or things I find lying around to make the negative shapes I’m looking for…and lots of gelatine. Plain old Knox Gelatin that has cured in the fridge for a day or so. It’s good for, well, as many prints as you see here. It’s like my creativity builds and builds as I sit at my desk or give Atticus (my son) a bath…and ideas fester and stew for days or weeks…then it all just explodes. Onto my dining room table. i usually go until I run out of paper…and I’ll be damned if the best prints only come right at the very end.
Series of Prints:
I take the monotype print, once dry, and draw on it - pretty damned complex eh? They are all fairly small and very portable - and they seem to always be with me for any spare moment I can grab to draw on them. Pen choice…of course, a black micron.
I look forward to the time when I can sit quietly so much that I get a little giddy thinking about it. To know they are in my bag or in my notebook just waiting…waiting to have their own unique details added. It’s like a blank face just waiting for an expression to be added. I think I actually fantasize about it.
These remind me of stretched pieces of skin…connected to the frame with small steel wires or taught twine. shapes held together and suspended by industrial implements. A kind of industrial-organic. Methodical but very human in it’s delivery. Delicatly spaced and arranged while still retaining the slight shake of my hand in the lines.
The prints are pulled twice. First the positive image with negative spaces created with my cutouts - and yarn. I tend to use yarn in many of them…I’m also a spinner, so, needless to say, I am not lacking for fiber at my house. After the positive image is pulled, I remove all the items from the plate and pull it again - but off register a bit to create more of a 3D effect.
The process is not complex, the ideas are not complex, hell, the results are as much happy coincidence as they are strategy - realistically more so. I guess the point to all of this is I cannot NOT do these things.
If it’s not this, it’s the glass (which is coming up next) or graphic design or yarn or baking… but there is one constant, it has to come out - I have to release this pressure, this creativity somehow.
Pallet:
Even the end result of the printing process is stunning to me. The unintentional and intentional mixing of ink as I look for a desired color combination. Clearly I have an attraction to blues and greens and oranges and pinks. I’m not one for muted or dull colors…I like my colors bright, vibrant, energetic, sexy, sassy, messy, loud and powerful.
Glass Process:
Same table, same room as before - totally different medium. As you can see, creativity really has no need for a “studio”, or a specific place or a time of day. It gets shoved in where ever I can - after work but before dinner. After the bath but before the bedtime stories.
Using my dining room as a studio space has forced me to be more organized in my execution. I am forced to work out the problem or idea in my head first…mull it over, think of the options before I break out my equipment because the time and space are limited.
Stripes:
Here a few finished glass pieces. Full disclosure forces me to mention that I’ve only been working with fused glass for a few years now but my love of glass started with ceramics. Glazing was always the part of the process that I enjoyed the most. A side note here - I think this also could be because I still cannot throw a damned pot on the wheel…and it bugs the hell out of me. Needless to say, hand building and glazing became a key part to the process for me…and after all, glaze is just crushed glass.
Arch Glass:
One of the limitations of my kiln is it’s size - like me, it’s rather squat and doesn’t allow for 3 dimensional work. I call these my architectural glass pendants and again, I feel they carry along my organic industrial aesthetic a step further.
I use an organic medium that burns away in the kiln and mix it with finely crushed glass and pipe it, like buttercream frosting, over strips of high fire fiber board (which doesn’t burn away). This technique creates a 3 dimensional loop on top of the glass which, when fired, fuses with the bottom piece
Kiln photo:
All in all a kiln fire takes an hour and 8 minutes and then around 4 or more hours to slowly cool. Generally speaking, I mess up one kiln of new glass each time I try something new - because like a kid at Christmas, I can’t WAIT to open it and see what I got.
Gear 1:
Glass, like the prints, are probably 95% happy coincidence. Some of my more recent glass work is made even more exciting for me because of this. The washers are from Home Depot, which, coincidentally, is one of my favorite places for inspiration. I think ”I wonder if I can melt that in my glass.” every time I walk the isles.
Gears:
Again, nothing complex…it’s the fact that the outcome is unknown that gets me jazzed. I never know when a bubble will pop out in the middle of a gear, how big it will be, how many will there be. Again - organic and industrial all the same time.
Suncatchers 1:
I love the transparent glass lined up, spaced evenly, glued down with great care. They are my little glass backbones. I wonder if it is this constant need for structure that I have…creativity and impulse but with order. I hope, this tendency for order and structure that also makes me a good graphic designer.
Suncatchers 2:
These suncatchers represent two batches of glass fired separately. One was in the kiln for not even 3 minutes longer. Glass, no matter what the thickness - naturally wants to be an 1/8th inch thick. So thick stacks of glass will spread out more than say a single layer which will bead up to bring it to where it wants to be.
End:
The surprise ending tonight is that last week I quit my full time job. I have decided to pursue my art and design again full time - and take my own advice and put up or shut up.
Above all, my passions and inclinations and creative sparks are 100 % me and I am them and it has taken me into my early 30’s to realize that this is ok…it’s OK to be a creative, thinking, passionate, silly, obsessive, experimental, and compulsive person.
In closing, Wish me luck.
