THE PROCESS
My work sits at the intersection between my conscious, trained artistic mind and my spontaneous, nervous instincts. It is this tension that I hope to hold within the glass pieces I make.
I begin the process by designing directly into the computer with a stylus, sometimes with reference and sometimes out of invention. The design process is fast and frantic. With long periods of staring and analyzing, followed by quick sketching and layering in photoshop.
When my design is complete, it gets printed and thoroughly deconstructed. I analyze exactly how to go about creating the image using the available glass styles— sheet glass, frit, and “premade” material. These are drawn into shapes called “descriptive glass.”
I begin in the studio by painting with vitreous enamel (paint that gets fired into the glass) on clear glass. The image at this stage is meant to be a loose underpainting that will eventually activate the glass above and provide the initial spark to get the piece going.
Once the painting is complete, the descriptive glass pieces are cut from sheet glass and premade material. It is at this stage that there is a response taking place. As premade material is taken out of the kiln and analyzed, It often provokes a deviation from the original design. It is this dialogue that I really enjoy most about the process.
When all the descriptive glass has been laid on the clear painted piece, the fritting process begins. Frit, or crushed glass in sizes from fine powder the coarse pebbles, is laid onto the piece, to create color fades and textures. When the piece is ready to go into the kiln, it almost looks like a sandcastle, the image buried in the layers of glass and frit.
Finally, the kiln has the last word. The glass is placed carefully, and overnight the heat (1500 degrees) and the element of gravity partner to melt the glass into a monolithic piece. There are always surprises, some good some bad. It’s truly a faith experience when a fused glass image is created.
There are many applications for the display of my work. I am currently experimenting with backlit interior installation possibilities as well as modular solutions for large scale architectural pieces, both interior and exterior. Of course the work can always be installed into a window in such a way that it is removable and not a permanent part of the architecture.