As many of you know for the past year I have been diligently creating new artwork for my second solo exhibition in Europe. This show will be opening at Dock Gallery in Rotterdam, Netherlands on September 4th. The ‘Glacial Series’ to be featured is based on mountainous environments and the glaciers that create them, which have peaked my interest for years. Through climbing and mountaineering, I get to experience these wild places, which in turn not only influence my artwork, but also my entire being. Just as the glaciers have shaped the landscapes, so too have they shaped my identity, passion, principals, and personal beliefs.
In my opinion these sculptures are some of my best and most personal. The process of creating and experimenting with this ‘Glacial Series’ has been fun and enlightening. Below is an update on the progress of some of the work. More working photos can be found in a previous post.
A stuffed-cup has been made and now waits to be heated back up before filling it with a large amount of glass and blowing it into a new form
After filling the cup it is blown into a form to later be cut and polished into its final shape
Flattening the form is sometimes hot work
Some of my closest workmates.- these diamond wheels are used to grind and cut patterns into the surface of the glass once it is cold.
Mapping out where the lenses will go
Once mapped out, the lenses are cut into place and must go through six different grinding wheels to bring them to a high gloss polish
Shaping the glass on the steel marver before inflating it
Through the use of colored ‘stuffed-cups’ I am able to put the color and patterns on the surface of each object in order to cut and carve through these layers once the glass is cold
These cups must be picked up and treated very carefully in order to keep from trapping unwanted air bubbles.
A large glacial lake is now completed in the hotshop. It much cool down very slowly in the kiln. Once room temperature it can be cut and carved into its final form.
On the left is an unfinished serac mapped out for grinding. The white surface will be cut through in order to reveal the underlying blue glass.
Once the forms are cold they will be shaped into their final form through cutting and grinding.
Here is a stuffed-cup which was cameo engraved to create a pattern.
Looking into the same cup
The pattern is slightly manipulated and stretched once the cup is picked up and inflated
Mapping out lenses
Lenses carved into the surface and brought to a high polish
Patterns can also be manipulated with optics
Building an ice cave takes both skills learned in preschool as well as profession skill. Gluing is much less labor intensive than other forms of coldworking.
Cleaning up an object after polished the lenses.
Surface texture
Ice cube murrini ready to be picked up and turned into a sculpture
After the high polish
Some of these sculptures are my largest to date. This particular one didn’t make it as the weight of it broke the largest blowpipe on the market.
Removing some color to create floating icebergs near the rim.
