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...
Ron has been collecting Randi's work since the early 90's. I had the pleasure of talking with him yesterday about his experience and why he loves living with her pieces. Ron says: My wife and I have lived and worked in France since the 60s when we were students and we’ve always been interested in collecting art and have been collecting for quite awhile. In the 90’s when Dale Chihuley became popular we went to one of his exhibits and I mentioned to my wife that I really wanted to start collecting glass, so I looked around at what was available and I didn’t find anything intriguing, it looked like everyone was copying his work. Then I went to a...
I was inspired to create the Purple and Black Nebula Emperor Bowls after studying images from the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble has been transmitting beautiful images of our universe back to us since its launch in 1990. The Purple Nebula Emperor Bowl was inspired by the Eagle Nebula, where the famous Pillars of Creation are located. Purple Nebula Emperor Bowl Nebulae are the nurseries of the universe, fostering the building blocks of life. I keep a periodic table of elements in the hot shop, reminding me where the materials I use come from. Hubble Telescope image of the Crab Nebula The soda lime glass in my furnace is composed of silica, sodium dioxide, and calcium oxide. My color palette is...
The color palette of the Atlantis Emperor Bowl was inspired by Claude Monet's Water Lily paintings. He spent the last 30 years of his life devoted to studying his beloved garden in Giverny, France. I approach glass in a painterly fashion, applying layers of colored glass powders and colorful glass canes.
In honor of the earthy palette of mud season, I created the Earthtone Emperor Bowl. March in Vermont is quite the conundrum. We dream of spring blossoms, but are surrounded by ice and mud. The weather bounces between freezing and thawing, snowing and raining.
