A few weeks back I wrote about this piece-in-the-making, and I have now completed it.
There are times when I particularly fall in love with certain pieces, and this is one of those instances. I am very happy with the way my idea turned out. I’m exploring ideas and situations of life and depicting them in a botanical vocabulary. With this piece I wanted to depict a tree, yet not realistically, and to depict the notion of harvest and saving for the future, tucking away provisions for the “winter.” The tree needed to be hardy enough, yet I didn’t want it solid – I wanted to be able to see through the tree and into the acorn stash inside. And just enough leaves to say “tree” without branches or a realistic tree form.
The trunk is made of an interesting color called Dragon’s Eye. When I initially received the raw glass, it looked black and rather boring. As I worked the glass though, the flame created streaks and spots of blues, greens and browns. And I discovered the base color is actually not black, but very dark green. When lit, the tree trunk is a beautiful translucent dark green with streaks of other colors!
The trunk is now on its way to the Ariana Gallery in Michigan for their exhibition titled “Playing With Fire.” The Ariana Gallery of Contemporary Arts and Crafts opened in November of 1987 and is run by professional art consultant and artist Ann E. Kuffler. Ariana carries a variety of both decorative and functional work from artists all over the world, representing the gallery’s philosophy of openness to a wide range of art topics and styles including the more unusual and sometimes controversial examples of artists and their work.
See the Ariana Gallery website at www.ArianaGallery.com
“Playing With Fire” is Ariana Gallery’s exhibition for Michigan Glass Month, an annual event now in its 28th year, celebrating and promoting artists primarily working with glass. Visitors can see glass art in many different forms including flameworked, cast, leaded, molten, etched, assembled and ground. Galleries, art centers, museums and businesses throughout the state and the greater Great Lakes region host shows, seminars, demonstrations and other celebrations of the art of glass.
Another amazing gallery near Ariana is Habatat Gallery. Habatat is owned by its founder and president Ferdinand Hampson and his wife and business partner Kathy Hampson. Ferdinand has been involved with artists working with glass for 36 years and is recognized internationally as a noted authority and historian in the field of contemporary glass. This Saturday Habatat celebrates its 37th International Glass Invitational Awards Exhibition featuring over 90 artists from around the world.
Visit the Habatat Gallery website at www.Habatat.com