Smoke & Mirrors! (as well as heaps of laughter! )

In June (15th-19th) I will be teaching a fantastic class that will cover all things fused, slumped, and silvered. The silvering process, or applying a shiny silver coat to the back of glass to make a mirror, is something within my studio practice that I love.

When I was a young glassy bub I thought to myself, "alright, lets put that mirror in the kiln and manipulate it," which you really cant do, I discovered the hard way. You must first fuse, slump, and shape the glass before applying the mirror coating.

In the not so distant past it was something I outsourced, but because of rising costs and the desire to experiment more I have incorporated this practice within my repertoire. We will cover the do's and don'ts as well as proper handling and disposal. You will also leave with a sweet coupon code to purchase the chemicals required to mirror your own glass in your studio.

In the course we will also explore leading techniques, by this I mean lead came, solder, and copper foil construction techniques. This, alongside the silvering, is something that fascinates me. Stained glass is such a dated craft. I love this pedantic way of joining two pieces of glass together, or in some cases many shards of glass together. In contemporary glass/sculpture I believe there is a great deal of exploration to be had.

We will examine these techniques both conceptually and technically as well as have a great time along the way.

I am very excited to teach at the Pittsburgh Glass Center for the first time and it should be a hoot!

Click on the link to learn more!

Smoke & Mirrors!

Also! They have scholarships! Apply by March 15th! Money for classes!

Check it out!

Scholarships!

What have I been up to you ask?

Oh a little of this and a little of that. I have recently completed a residency at Pilchuck Glass School. It was a wonderful time spent on the Pilchuck campus during the North American Autumn. There was only the full time staff as well as the other residents: Sarah Briland, Yuka Otani, David King, Anne Petters, and Irena Czepcova. I made, I laughed, I ate. Oh boy did I eat. Yessh.

It was highly productive period. Some of this work will be forwarded to a show in Auckland, New Zealand, a piece will be hung at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, and a few works have been commissioned. Unfortunately a few pieces and components (important ones ugh) were damaged by TSA during transit. But that is a whole other post.....

Here a few works in progress....

Broken then fused seperatley. Much of the new work looks for patterns within the breaks and finds continuity between panels. This stems from an observation I made in grad school. I was looking out my  fourth floor studio and noticed how independently poured slabs of concrete were linked by a single crack. 

Experiments in creating sculptural works. Using no silvering. Just light. 

A kiln full of broken panels with cover sheets. 

Fused, sawed, sandblasted, then "fire polished"

I have also started silvering the panels myself. 

Crates! A perk of using Bullseye sheet glass is that it comes with high quality foam. So easy to pack out a crate. 

These are probably my favorite new works/experiments. Black on black. Very simple. Very clean. 

Big ginger! I have also started to drop the glass into the kiln. Not arranging anything and leaving the break more to chance. A less heavy handed approach. 

Large white panel. 

And then my little helper. Irena :)