:: Can you share the story of a specific piece?

QUESTION:

Can you share the story of a specific piece?

ANSWER:

Julie Says:

Titled:
"Because I Dream of Infinities"

I love math. Mathematically speaking, a line is defined as an infinite number of points. Thus, a circle, which is a line with no beginning or end is the penultimate manifestation of an infinity. This is the main inspiration for this piece - how many mathematical infinities can I put together?

The dreaming part... I love Aboriginal Dreaming art and I also love Dreamcatchers. I appreciate the world that I live in - in that so much art is accessible to so many. I'm very aware of the concept of cultural appropriation, but I counter that progress and time - global awareness and mixing - means that the lines of cultures blur and by dictating cultural walls by using that term is not something I support.

So here is my piece, created from the inspiration of loving math and to honor many cultures and to remind us that art should transcend cultural walls and humanity is stronger together.

Technical details:

Approx 12" diameter fused glass ring (cut/fused by Julie) with 69 hand punched copper circles fused inside the glass ring.

The 'net' of the piece is chain maille weave: European 4 in 1 with square copper and round bright aluminum rings (didn't count - LOTS and all hand woven by Julie). The center is a steel coil hand wrapped in copper wire, with a circle of chain maille weave: helm (variation) featuring a lovely Amazonite stone.

The 'net' is attached by helm links. The tails/fringe bits are again helm with copper scales and more Amazonite. The topper is fashioned to hang the piece in multiple directions.

Jen Says:

Titled:
"Red River Cuts Through Black"

While inspiration can come from many sources, my most frequent inspiration is drawn from the way glass breaks. It can break while cutting for something else, cut differently than the intended shape, or on occasion, from being dropped. The piece will catch my eye and tell me it was intended for something else. Swirled colors of glass are particularly captivating. I hold the piece in my hand, turning it over, rotating it, mulling over how this piece of a puzzle is going to become art.

For "Red River Cuts Through Black", I was cutting up a sheet of red swirl glass into half sheets. The first cut broke on a curve. I turned the piece to try another straight cut, and the sheet broke again, simply refusing to accept a fate of a half sheet and two 10x10 in squares. There was a sizeable piece of swirl, with an interesting shape staring up at me on the cutting table. It challenged me to use it without further cuts. I began to see a way to build around it, to have it cut through the black, to use black and clear as a supporting background for this special piece of swirl. The black and clear pieces built out from the red swirl in both directions, fitting together like a puzzle. In order to get a close fit and to create the movement of the black, a great deal of time was spent cutting and grinding the black and clear pieces for a snug fit.

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