How We See Ourselves as Artists

Self portraits come in all shapes, sizes and mediums. How we see ourselves, or wish to tell our own story can be expressed in so many ways.

I make a lot of custom order beads of people. Grandchildren, family members, and even famous people.

But when it comes down to expressing who we are, it gets.....well, personal.
Have you ever tried that game of "pick three adjectives that best tell who you are"? It's pretty hard. And that darn introspection sometimes makes you a little too self aware.

I was reading through one of my favorite websites. It's the Smithsonian Museum. They have a page that has links to their museums. It's like all this interesting inspiration just a click away.

I chose this piece of art, because to me it was fascinating. This is Margo Humphrey's "The History of Her Life Written Across Her Face" which uses small pictures (rebus) and words to tell who this artist is. Click on the link to use their "zoomify it" tool, which helps you read and see what she has to say about being an African American artist and her point of view.

And as always, I thought about this in glass. If I were to attempt something like this, what would mine say? How would I be able to technically accomplish it? I included a small photo of myself that uses one of my Apple computer tools to turn it into bright colors. The blues, greens and aquas are some of my favorite colors, so perhaps I'd start there with that as a background. As for writing the words, I have three words- stringer control & magnifiers...perhaps I should have added steady hands and great lighting too.

I'm going to have to contemplate what words I'd find necessary to include. And that's your creativity challenge for the day. You don't need to make one of these, but think about it. How would you express yourself in glass? What would you want to say and what would it look like? And as always, I'd love to hear about it.