Personal Statement
I love the glass blowing process, and it is not just because it is hot, dirty work, that somebody had to do. I was passionate about it from the moment I first gathered molten glass from the furnace. There is nothing quite as exciting a shaping and forming this hot material--a material that you can never actually touch; and yet, there is such a tender and intimate relationship with the medium. The basic process has not changed over the centuries. The same few simple tools which were used to shape glass centuries ago are still used today. One can only guess that the person working a millennium ago experienced the same elation from the smooth, fluid symmetry in a gather of molten glass. There is tension that builds as one works with a piece knowing that it can be lost at any time. No piece is ever quite reproducible or predictable, and that is part of the excitement and mystery of glass.
My work emphasizes the process of blowing and forming hot glass using design elements that can be incorporated into the molten material. The long tradition of working with the material in it’s "purest form" is compelling. My challenge is to add these elements into the pieces and still maintain the integrity of the process. I want to capture the beauty that can be implicit in the simplest form, line and color.
I love the glass blowing process, and it is not just because it is hot, dirty work, that somebody had to do. I was passionate about it from the moment I first gathered molten glass from the furnace. There is nothing quite as exciting a shaping and forming this hot material--a material that you can never actually touch; and yet, there is such a tender and intimate relationship with the medium. The basic process has not changed over the centuries. The same few simple tools which were used to shape glass centuries ago are still used today. One can only guess that the person working a millennium ago experienced the same elation from the smooth, fluid symmetry in a gather of molten glass. There is tension that builds as one works with a piece knowing that it can be lost at any time. No piece is ever quite reproducible or predictable, and that is part of the excitement and mystery of glass.
My work emphasizes the process of blowing and forming hot glass using design elements that can be incorporated into the molten material. The long tradition of working with the material in it’s "purest form" is compelling. My challenge is to add these elements into the pieces and still maintain the integrity of the process. I want to capture the beauty that can be implicit in the simplest form, line and color.