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The Art of Brainwork
You have to be amazed by your own brain. Really, think about all that your brain does for you, and the processes and synapses that fire away so that you can function every day. It’s really a beautiful thing.
The artwork of Dr. Greg A. Dunn takes you into the mystery and beauty of the human brain. He and his colleague Dr. Brian Edwards invented a technique that manipulates light on a microscopic scale. Dunn creates microetchings, hand-made lithographs that capture a moment of reflection in the incredibly intricate tapestry of the brain. Reflected microetching unveils a view into the brain that touches upon the delicate balance of neural choreography.
Microetching is one of the techniques that Dunn uses to create his amazing artworks. He also works with an ink-blowing technique to to form intricate works that could be forests, trees, or forests of neurons in a mind-blowing landscape.
Dunn is a fan of Asian art, and the minimalist scroll and screen painting techniques from the Edo period in Japan. He draws from that inspiration, and combines it with the knowledge gleaned from having a doctorate in Neuroscience.
Visit Dunn’s website to view more of his beautiful and detailed work.
Honeycomb
I’m working on my second honeycomb piece. The first one looked amazing, and then I tried fusing the top details onto the base and it melted into a puddle of color. This is a photo of my second try before fusing. I would like those top details to nicely melt, just a little bit, into the base. The problem is that when you heat all that glass together, it must heat and cool at the same rate. If those thinner top pieces cool slower than the thick bottom, they will crack, or the whole piece will crack. It gets complicated. Stay tuned to see if I can figure out a very slow fusing schedule that will heat and cool everything to perfection.
Jenna’s Dragon
Combination of stained glass background with fused glass dragon. This was a commissioned piece.
New wiring for the kiln
We have been fusing glass downstairs in the home studio since we bought our Skutt kiln in 2004. It has been a workhorse, but we are dealing with our first repair issue. We programmed it to go one night, and the screen displayed the dreaded Err1 message. I could have guessed what was wrong, but was really glad that I gave Skutt a call. Their technician was amazing, and patiently led me step by step through using a multimeter to diagnose the problem. It turned out to be a bad relay. That would have been minimal to replace, however, I thought it was good advice to purchase a whole new panel. The base they use now is much heavier, giving more heat protection to the elements. Considering the age of the kiln, I thought it a great value to purchase the whole panel for under $200.
Crazy, huh? It took some time to re-wire all those connections to the circuit board, carefully following Skutt’s instructions, using their thoughtfully tagged wires.
So now we’re back in business! The fusing continues. Stay tuned for some new pieces coming out of the kiln.
Time for a Change
Warm weather is coming, spring is in the air, and its time for a change. This will be the last post on this particular blogsite, although I will leave it here as an archive.
When I started this blog, I enjoyed playing with the free tools at WordPress.com, and created my blog and website here. Fast forward to 2015, and my life is moving forward and expanding in many directions. Instead of being confined to the free templates of WordPress, I have immersed myself in learning how to work with custom templates, manipulating them and creating custom websites with my business partner in graphic design.
The inspiration found in writing an art blog and scouring the internet for ideas has turned into a focus into my own business of creation. I am thinking about continuing a variation of this art blog on my Rowanberry Studio home site, but will not do the research I have done here, which I love, but is very time consuming.
Thanks to those of you who have followed and those who have kindly commented. Namaste.
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Anish Kapoor on Artsy
Have you been to Artsy yet? Prepare yourself, you could be lost for years in the intricacies and information in this site.
This is just a small glimpse of this crazy busy website. Follow your favorite artists, browse galleries, museums, fairs & shows, auctions, for sale, education… the list goes on. The site goes on. And on. And on.
So let me focus on one of my favorites – Anish Kapoor. A rep from Artsy contacted me, suggesting the new Anish Kapoor page on Artsy, and I think it’s a great thing to share, so I’m spreading the word.
Canvas, Anish Kapoor
-from http://artsy.net
Artsy is a site that takes everything to the next level. Each page could be a site in itself, and Kapoor’s page is no exception. View his artwork and read his bio. Move on to articles that present yet another dimension into the artist’s life. See upcoming exhibitions. Then take it a step further and delve into related artists.
Get lost in Artsy and have fun exploring, or bookmark it and use it as a reference. Lots of info here, and plenty of eye candy as well!
GAS Conference in Chicago
The Glass Art Society Conference 2014 was held in Chicago this year, so friend and fellow-glass fuser Brandie Dunn and I took the train down to check it out.
Image from the GAS Conference 2014 Program Book
Alas, as the membership fee is a bit steep for me, (also, the society seems to be more oriented to glass blowers rather than fusers) as non-members we were only able to access the public displays at this conference.
Our main goal was to visit the Bullseye Glass booth, as I am planning to use a great deal more of their product in my own work. We had a great visit with the reps at the booth, who were very welcoming and receptive to all questions. I scored a great re-usable Bulleye shopping bag to fill with show literature and give-aways.
Next we met a few more helpful reps from Covington Engineering and HIS Glassworks. We began asking questions about coldworking equipment, but the conversation was cut short as they were leaving for the GAS gallery tour. They were nice enough to encourage us to tag along, and we quickly changed our plans to do just that. What a great decision that turned out to be, as we toured the Ken Saunders Gallery, Echt Gallery, and the Vale Craft Gallery, all located on W. Superior in Chicago.
One of my favorite pieces was by artist Steve Jensen, combining natural wood with resin and glass.
Jensen hails from Seattle, WA, coming from a long tradition of Norwegian fishermen and boat builders. He grew up on his father’s fishing boat. His artwork displays incredible range in mediums including glass, wood carving, and bronze sculpture.
This is a close-up of a piece by Harue Shimomoto that was another favorite of mine:
I once watched Shimomoto unpacking and hanging a piece at a SOFA show in Chicago. The delicate traceries of glass are hung in overlapping sections to create the full display. It was amazing to think that you can actually ship something this delicate.
Although this blog could go on for days on this topic, I’ll just include one more piece today, from Thomas Scoon:
Again, I am drawn to pieces that combine natural materials with glass, in this case, chunks of stone.
“Stone/glass/stone/glass, the two substances layered like some sedimentary strata on the side of a cliff. But, though cold to the touch, Scoon’s assemblages still echo with their igneous source; this is the stuff of magma and the core.” – James Yood, Art Critic
It was quite a memorable evening. We were completely taken in by the art displays, but also tremendously enjoyed the company of the HIS Glassworks and Covington Engineering representatives. Their observations and comments were interesting and informative.
Visit for more information:
HIS Glassworks: http://www.hisglassworks.com/
Covington Engineering: http://www.covington-engineering.com/
Bullseye Glass: http://www.bullseyeglass.com/
Ken Saunders Gallery: http://www.marxsaunders.com/home.html
Echt Gallery: http://www.echtgallery.com
Vale Craft Gallery: http://www.valecraftgallery.com/
Mesmerizing Dot Murals
Artist Julie Clement creates intricate designs made of dots.
Clement’s Venus and Sun was displayed at the Longmount Museum & Cultural Center in Longmont, CO. Her pointillism follows renowned artists Lichtenstein and Seurat. It brings to mind the artwork of Australian aboriginal artists.
Clement is pictured working on her mural “Venus and Sun” in 2012 at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, Photo by Lewis Geyer/Times-Call.
She is described on her website as “vivacious; and her energy, contagious!”, and looking at her colorful, flowing images certainly reflects that energy. Her paintings are composed of hundreds upon thousands of dots, and she describes her process as meditative. She draws inspiration from dreams, books, and life experiences.
Venus and Mercury, 11″ x 14″ Metal
Clement paints with acrylic on canvas, metal and wood. Visit her website: http://clementinedotart.com
there is grass under all that snow
We are buried in snow right now, with below zero temps and arctic winds buffeting the house. It’s a great time to think about the grasses that are dormant beneath the icy layers of snow, just waiting to spring forth in a few months. And who better to give you the feeling of grassy growth than Santa Fe artist Charlie Burk.
Luxurious Passage
49×97″ oil on panel
Burke has been painting landscape for over 40 years. His paintings seem a blend of abstraction and realism, with their vibrant colors and grassy stems and seeds.
Serene Afternoon
48×48″ oil on panel
Burke is one of the artists represented by the Winterowd Fine Art Gallery, one of the galleries that recently participated in the LA Art Show. The show took place at the LA Convention Center, January 2014. The Winterowd Gallery is located in Santa Fe, and notes that “many of our artists have an enduring fascination with nature that continue to inform and inspire.”
Stride Spirited
24×24″ oil on panel
When walking in the nearby parks here in the Midwest, I am fascinated by the tall prairie grasses. I try again and again to capture their beauty, but don’t seem to quite capture the magic to my satisfaction. I am a little gratified that they seem to echo the feeling of Burke’s work.
“We find that it’s ever so
In this life’s uneven flow;
We’ve only to wait,
In the face of fate,
For the green grass under the snow”
– from “Consolation”, Annie A. Preston
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