Yay for Public Art!

My friend, Jim Berry of Blue Moon Glassworks took this photo of a small section of a public art mural he is helping with in Austin TX.  Shipe Park is a cute little green space with a swimming pool-  not too far from his business in the Hyde Park neighborhood.  Austin is rich with public art and it's always a joy to see it, when I visit.

This is the second public mosaic mural that he's worked on.  Seeing photos and hearing about their process makes me wish my local government found a way to beautify my area too.  I love not only the end result, but the concept, the teamwork and all the other factors that go with it.

Do you have something like this going on where you live? I'd love to hear about it.

Zeus and the Glass Smalti

I was trying to figure out why my cat Zeus was so interested in certain bowls of my mosaic glass smalti.  The top right one seemed particularly interesting.

I won't ever understand how cats think.  Especially this one, but I think I figured out this one.  It was close to dinner time, Sometimes he eats out of bowl and the smalti was pink.  I think he was hoping it was shrimp or something tasty.

Instead it's a tasty treat for someone else. I shipped out my spares to a friend who will give them a good home and turn them into lovely art.

Why?

I was reading the Society of American Mosaic Artists' website recently and saw a question they had asked award winning members...

"Why do I express myself in mosaics?" and their varied responses touched me in so many ways. Partially, because I love to hear how each artist has chosen their area and why.

Do you ever think about it for your work too? I know I get asked that question in different ways pretty often.

I'd love to hear your response. So please post it in the comments. Tell my why do you?

And as for me, it was a multitude of reasons. I had been working in watercolors and loved layering the colors and the look of sunlight streaming through them. I thought perhaps glass would be able to do that for me too. And a somewhat oblique reason was that I was rather frightened both of broken glass and flames. I knew by facing that, and having a wonderful reward for dealing with it, would help me get over it. (and yes, for you subscribers, that's why I chose to sky dive too- I am scared of heights).

But back to the artistic reasons.. please share with me your thoughts. I know that there are some wonderful feelings that are evoked when we discuss our mediums and I'd love to hear yours.

Teaching Flamework To An Artist Of A Different Medium

Yesterday's blog post introduced you to a little of Austin artist Aly Winningham's wonderful mosaics.

Today, I'd like to chat a bit about teaching an artist of a different medium about flameworking.

I met Aly at Blue Moon when she was in to pick up more glass for her mosaics and mobiles. I enjoyed her immediately. She has a lot of passion and energy for what she does and it appeared for everything else she tackles as well.

She was telling me how a group fusing class didn't fit her personality. She knew too much to sit patiently through relearning it and what other students wanted to learn, wasn't necessarily what she did.

This is exactly the kind of student who intrigues me. I immediately suggested private lessons and that I'd be available, if she'd like, during my stay in Austin. A creative challenge is just what I enjoy.

So I thought I'd go through a few of my steps to prepare for our first class and please feel free to fill in more ideas for other teachers who come upon this situation.

1. Listen to the artist when you're booking the class and ask some good solid questions that will help you teach them better. I asked about pertinent skills. Aly understands glass in general, COE, knows how to weld, (which means she'll grasp tool and tech. info as well as flame discussion and safety info as well). I also asked her how she felt flameworked glass would suit her art work.

2. Go to their website and look at their work, read their bio, so you can speak intelligently to them about their work.

So when Aly arrived, instead of the first safety talk that goes through every instructor's lips, we went to the large whiteboard and wrote down some goals for the days lessons. I figured I'd fit the other stuff in as we go, in priority order.

We mapped out three goals for a 3 hour class. She wanted to be able to add flat backed pieces for her mosaics, she wanted to make large organic pieces for her mobiles (with holes for hanging) and she wanted to understand melting glass more and the theories behind it.

So after understanding that she knew COE, we visited section to section in the store, (Blue Moon Glassworks) and discussed some of the supplies, tools and glass options that would pertain to her three goals. I wanted her to understand for the future, some of the options.

Next it was safety time and then light the torch. Usually I make a small donut with the student, but with Aly, we took a rod of white and melted it into her water bowl. I wanted enough time to talk about watching the colors of the hot glass for future control. She is a tactile artist, and I thought she'd relate to this well. She did. We melted then a little of a dark transparent, and practiced adjusting the torch, we discussed frit that she was making and how it could be used, torches, set ups, kilns, gas sources, and other topics that were pertinent and that she was capable of understanding- like when we pulled stringers, and we took time to stretch, bend and fold the glass before making that first bead.

But of course we made those too. And we did the dots- raised, flat and raked, and then we got into flattening the glass and adding extra glass that we twisted, pulled and practiced heat control on. In the end, we mirrored some of her vision for her mobiles, had a few examples for her mosaics and mapped out her next private lesson with the wonderful in store teacher, Lisa.

Aly left her private lesson excited and ready to try it some more. I lve to see that kind of enthusiasm, which warms my heart and is one of the many reasons why I love to teach.

If you've got ideas, pointers, tips and tricks for teaching the non traditional student, how about posting them? We'd all love to hear. See you tomorrow.

Terra Firma Studios

I was delighted to meet mosaic artist Aly Winningham while visiting Blue Moon Glassworks.

I had heard that she created wonderful mosaics, but it wasn't until I checked out her website, that I realized what scale and level she was.

This is just one small example of her work- the candy counter at Austin's flagship Whole Foods Market. Aly works in metals and mosaics (mainly glass) and if you poke around under the "Public Work" category, you'll see columns 25 feet tall. Oh, she makes me want to learn to do this.

Now here's the kicker...I was lucky to be Aly's first lampwork teacher. I'll tell you about it in a future blog- teaching another artist who has a voice in their work, makes it interesting and a lot of fun. See you tomorrow to tell you more. http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Sparkling High Heels That Relax Your Feet

Look closely at this gorgeous shoe. Can you tell what it is? It took me a minute, but if you examine the photo, you'll see it's a vessel for relaxation....that's right- a bathtub.

Oh my! Can you imagine luxuriating in one of these? Knowing me, I'd be figuring out what to do with that section that looks like a slide. Whether it would be me or some rubber ducks, something would be tumbling down it.

The gorgeous exterior decoration is a glitzy glass mosaic with either fiberglass or acrylic on the inside. (See, it does relate to glass in some way!) I've seen two other models which are equally as glamorous.

But actually I wanted to bring it to your attention because I was impressed with the designers creating artwork with such a typically utilitarian object. The High Heel Bathtubs are shown by the Italian based SICIS Art Mosaic Factory. Which of course brings me to that question I keep asking all of us to ask ourselves, "What have we done that is unique and makes our product stand out from the others?" Feel free to grab this photo and pin it up next to your desk. This is a great visual reminder.

See you tomorrow with more fun.