Inspiring Artist - Sylvia Levenson

While I was taking the class at The Studio @ the Corning Museum of glass I got to visit the museum collection frequently. One of my favorite pieces (and there were many) was this piece by artist Sylvia Levenson.

It's Raining Knives by Sylvia Levenson

On of our class assignments was to seek out a piece from the glass collection to respond to via our own art work. As I get adjusted to moving out of NYC and deeper into the jaws of suburbia, and as I watch the continuing politics of fear immobilize people, I was deeply drawn to this sculpture. The title card also spoke volumes about our human exchange with fear.

For me, Sylvia's sculpture invokes the innocence of youth. The colorful houses and even the astro-turf are reminiscent of cloistered safety. The fact that she makes use of glass only adds to tenuous, fragile and volatile potential of the situation.

In my own work I am very drawn to the melancholy of loss, especially innocence lost. I had been feverishly illustrating a series of young girls in my sketchbook and was considering carefully composing them in a paper-doll fashion of sheets of glass. In addition I am very interested in stained glass, and really wanted to consider cutting my sheet glass into forms before I illustrated on them with the vitreous paint (this technique is explained in past post). I was inspired by the element of repetition as well. That is how my art pieces entitled Lost Girls was born.

detail of Lost Girls by marisol diaz

Lost Girls by marisol diaz

So with little time (for class was in its last three days) I cut sheet glass, painted and fired as many girls from my sketchbook and bunnies as I could. The scale is much smaller and less colorful than Levenson's work but the inspiration is there...in my way.
Lost Girls 2 detail by marisol diaz

Glass Illustrations

Forgive Them Father For They Know Not What They Do by marisol diaz

So as one of my loyal readers noticed, I've been really busy (its called back-to-school-syndrome). So therefore I have neglected updating my blog!! I hope this new illustration buys me some time - because unfortunately this school year promises to be no easier than the rest. Who was that lame teacher 11 years ago who told me, "Oh don't worry no year is as hard as your first teaching year and every year after gets easier and easier..." yeah right. I've been waiting for the 'easy' part to kick in - its a decade too late! I wish I could be that care-fee teacher, but I'm not. And every year I get just as stressed about the first day of school as my students do. At least I still care. In addition, teaching high-school has been a great way of keeping me on my toes.

I thought this illustration was a great way to pay homage to this teaching year... especially the title. However I can't help but think more of the teachers than the students with the theme of this pic! If in this illustration the line work looks a bit anemic in areas, its because this is blasted onto sheet glass and rubbed into with pigment, than faired - so the lighter areas are where the pigment was less concentrated.

Happy back to school day.

Painted, Stacked, Fused and Sand-blasted Glass

The following art piece was also made during my time at Corning.

Soledad by marisol diaz

The following is a detail in which one can see the sand-blasted figure in the foreground more clearly.

Soledad detail by marisol diaz

Vitreous Painting on Glass

A good portion of what we did during my class at Corning was not just sand-blasting but also painting on glass with classic stained glass painting techniques. The technique we learned involved using kiln-fired pigment (generally around 1250 degrees) and can also be referred to as a type of enamel/stain, though we also used silver stains which are different than the paint. For the most part we used Reusche paints, which involve painting with a a mixture of powdered pigments, gum arabic and a liquid medium (most often water), then 'matting' and 'tracing' (both words mean something different than what you would expect those words to mean). A great example of how both blasting and these painting techniques are used masterfully can be seen in Judith Schaechter's new book enitled Extra Virgin about her stained glass art pieces and illustrations.

The following pieces are just my response to class assignments given to us by our instructor Denise Stillwagon Leone who taught a wonderful rich and stimulating class. If you are interested in learning any of these techniques I highly recommend taking a look at Corning and considering a class by Denise who is a beloved and consistently featured faculty member at Corning.
Untitled by marisol diaz 5"x7"With a second layer of glass & color paint behind

This assignment was about further exploration into mark making and brush strokes with a liner brush, or without. Depending on how well one mixed the powdered pigment, the right level of viscosity can achieve a rich smooth line. The painting is started with a 'matte' which is much like applying 'a tone or a wash' in watercolor painting. The line work is called 'tracing' even if you are not 'literally' tracing. You can notice that a final step can often include a 'scratching'

Untitled by marisol diaz 81/2"x11"

Glass Illustrations

Monkey See Monkey Do by marisol diaz

This illustration was sandblasted onto sheet glass (via the use of Iconics films) that was white washed and fired first. Then black reusche (kiln-fired powder pigment) was rubbed into the etched glass and re-fired. I'll be writing more about vitreous painting in the next post.

More Sandblasted Glass from my time in Corning

Here are some sneak peeks at some more of my earlier sandblasted glass pieces from my time at the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Since I am really interested in graphic design and illustration I really tried to combine these varied interests. Often glass surface treatment is not narrative, but more decorative in nature. However, the images that I developed for the surface manipulation was more personal with a definitive narrative, so my interest in illustration and graphic line really started to show up.

Popped Balloon by marisol diaz

With this particular image - the assignment was to blast a hole entirely through the glass...I couldn't see how I would do that in manner that made sense me, unless it was through a heart. This piece is actually slightly smaller (than the on screen size) in real life and that adds to its charm - at this scale and with the flatness of the photograph - it loses some of its graphic pop.

Paz by marisol diaz

This particular image is actually much larger than this image (8 1/2' x 11') and the assignment was to create variations in the blasting tones, such as gradations. Since I was coming up with my design ideas on the fly (with no preset plan) I was even surprised to see the imagery I formed, all of which had to be cut out with an exacto knife of a protective sheet (buttercut) in stages to blast (see the last post to understand buttercut).

Think With Your Head Not With Your Heart Fool by marisol diaz

This piece is done on 1/2inch thick glass which is lost with the photogragh...and was most time consuming since the size is around 10 by 10 inches. I also 'royally messed up' by packing the glass in my backpack one evening to work after 11pm and after riding my bike, hence the side of the glass with no protection got scratched (good lesson to learn) and so I had to lightly blast the front edges of the piece to compensate...some say you would never notice if I didn't tell (another lesson to learn).

Still, these pieces are from the first few days of class...after which my work began to evolve in quite a different direction which I will share with you all next...so stay tuned.

Sandblasting @ Corning Glass Studio Class

Well, I am finally back from the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, NY and able to update my blog again! (I was not able to, due to the limited amount of time that I had to do as much glasswork as I could. I put every possible moment of glasswork I could do as priority - I hope I haven't lost too much readership!) Now I have so much to share! Meet my new friend for the last two weeks:

An Empire sand blaster from the Corning studio cold shop! I've used sandblasters with my glasswork before but this class that I took taught by Denise Leone Stillwagon involved the use of stage sand blasting and vitreous painting - either as combined techniques or as separate ways to manipulate the glass surface.

Here is an early image of my desk as I was beginning a stage blasting assignment. Stage blasting is simply the process of blasting glass in stages so as to create deeper and varied levels of depth in the glass. Though I bropugght great picture references with me I often began every project with a drawing.

Here is a pic of the glass piece IN the sandblaster!

And here is the final piece...mind you it was simply a class assignment- there is no kind of 'heavy content' here since I was just trying to familiarize myself with the equipment.

At Corning

Well I am off on my own for two weeks for another glass class...but this time - its at Corning! I have to say - I have taken classes at the following glass schools, Haystack - in Deer Isle- Maine, Pilchuck (2x on scholarship), Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY, Bullseye in Portland Oregon, and none of these are physically as close to me in location as Corning is and it is now over ten years into my love affair with glass that I get know the Corning Glass Museum. It is the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of the glass world!

I am on my third day and I have so much to show everyone...I have already made 5 sand-blasted pieces but unfortunately my camera will not work with my laptop and I will have to wait to show you all my pictures. The class I am taking vitreous painting and sand-blasting class taught by Denise Stillwagon Leone...a wonderful teacher and amazing artist! Some of the work we are doing is similar to work I have done in the past, but the vitreous painting is the same process as one of my favorite artists who I have blogged about in the past... Judith Schaechter Definitely click on that if you did not get a chance to see it before...there is also one of my stained glass pieces there.

I know this wasn't the most exciting blog but stick with me until I can get my new glass work up here for you all to see. Hopefully, this weekend when my husband comes we can get some new pics,...until then I am back to the glass classroom!

Lamp Worked Glass Figures

This little shadow box of glass forms hangs on my living room wall. I combined small lampworked figures with wire wrapping. For the display I added incomplete arms, that I had lying around. I also found this antique photo printed on a piece of metal. I also chose a background fabric that I thought helped to evoke a passionate mood. I hope you like it!!

The art of melting and turning hand-held glass rods in a flame is called lampworking and/ or flameworking. Often we see Moretti glass which is brightly colored 'soft' glass used to make beads in a flame.
click pic to see my beads

I have many of those and love making beads. However, borosilicate glass is a heavier/stronger/harder glass-body with a lower COE made out of the same glass the original Pyrex was made out of. Though borosilicate can come in colors too, it is most commonly used in clear. I love borosilicate, with its lower COE it is very workable, but you have to work with it in a hotter temperature flame than the flame you need for Moretti. Hence, I can't use my little tanks of yellow Mapp gas to work it - I need real oxygen and acetylene tanks which unfortunately have not been in my budget.

So the bulk of the Europe pics are over. Though I still have a few Euro pics here and there that I will be sharing with you, I've been up to some new creative endeavors that I'll be posting - so stick around!

Inspiring Artist - Judith Schaechter

Judith Schaechter, Stained Glass, Snakes and Ladders 31"X30", 2003

The first time I ever saw Judith Schaechter's work I was doing our yearly NYC Chelsea gallery walk with our senior high-school class and it was quite a few years ago. I was floored by a stained glass artist using the medium in such a fresh/new, illustrative way. To me, she is the first artist that has therefore given a medium that I felt had been relegated to sun catchers, imitation Tiffany lamps, craft fairs and cathedral metaphors of 'enlightenment' a new face. Not everyone may appreciate Judith's work since it has a macabre, sombre often deathly glow about it. She enjoys investigating "...sex and death, with romance and violence the obvious runners up. I'm trying to be as cliche, sentimental, and decorative as possible--not as a strategy for ironic commentary about how stupid sentimentality and clichés are, but because this is the stuff, that time and time again, I am obsessed with, in love with, and that I have faith in."- Judith Schaecter

Grant it my husband and I, appreciate this kind of sensibility. We are after all huge Tim Burton fans! We each are collectors of Nightmare Before Christmas memorabilia before we met...he had all the Jack stuff and I had all the Sally. In fact, my husband's cousin Facundo Rabaudi worked as a model-maker on the set of that film (along with quite a few other phenomenal animations), and we were able to see some of the actual pieces used in Nightmare in real life! We love Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, and Tim Burton's book of poetry - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy...so you see Judith Schaechter's work doesn't jar us in any negative way.

Technically, Judith's art is brilliant and painstaking work. She uses something called flash glass, a material that I am still looking into which she sand-blasts, etches and layers to get the color. I am still researching the areas that look so painterly.

My understanding is that Judth Schaecter uses the copper foil method, as do I. If this is true, it makes me happy to hear since I haven't had the opportunity to learn the lead came method and I always berate myself for it. So yes, I enjoy stained glass too. Here is a sample of one of my older stained glass pieces of a Phoenix.

My work pales in comparison to Judith Schaecter, but I am looking forward to the inspiration she serves me and my newest adventures in drawing on glass with powdered frit. Right now though I'm working on a series of oil paintings for the Herstory project and it will be while before I get to play with stained glass again.

Whether you work in glass, are a writer, illustrator or painter, seeing the work of other artists can inform your own discipline in countless ways. So check out new artists working around you and get inspired!