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Greenland: An Inside Look at Nature's Abstraction

An article about the melting ice caps of Greenland in National Geographic moved me to create sculptures to both mimic and honor the frozen monoliths as they melt away. As a child my dad would gift me a subscription to National Geographic every year for the holidays and I just loved reading them. Much of my work is influenced by the photos I would see there. One of my favorite articles was about the melting polar ice caps in Greenland. The coloration of the photos profoundly touched me, and I began to think about how I could re-create the colors and textures through glass. I was especially drawn to a photo of a meltwater carved canyon that was 150 deep, that had black...

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Creating a Shard Bowl & Rectangle: An inside look into Randi's Coloration Process

  I create the color pallet for the Shard Bowl and Rectangle over the course of a week, by first creating Sahara, Gold Ruby, and Blue Cobalt Emperor Bowls individually. I create each one to be a museum quality piece, as if I were to send it off to a museum or gallery, and then I smash them with a hammer. There's something transformative about smashing a piece that you've created, and making something new out of it that I enjoy every time I make this piece. It's as though I am releasing its preciousness, and allowing it to become part of something bigger than itself. Next I take the smashed shards of the Emperor Bowls and mix them with over six...

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In the studio with Randi Solin: An inside look at her creative process

  Glassblowing is a like a finely choreographed dance, where everyone has their part to play and we all work together towards one fluid creation. Today we're creating an Azul Kauri for Chasen Gallery in Sarasota, Florida. Before we begin the team gathers to discuss the game plan so everyone has an overview of the steps it takes to create the piece, and so that each of us is clear on what we will be doing. We discuss the color palette and lay out the glass that we will use to color the piece.  We use powdered glass, glass cane (long thin strands), glass chips and shards from Germany to create the layered effects of color, and sometimes silver or gold foil...

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