Richard La Londe Fantastic Fused Glass Paintings

I have long been an admirer of Richard La Londe.  He is a fused glass artist and glass "painter."  While he makes some smaller fused glass slumped vessels, the work I admire most are his large scale fused glass 'murals.'

(c) Richard La Londe, "Masked Intentions"

He has been a part of the studio glass movement since 1974.  He crushes glass and "paints" with that crushed glass, which he then fuses in a kiln.  His works appear in schools and public venues primarily on the West Coast.  He has been commissioned over the years to create 15 glass murals, including one located at SeaTac airport in Seattle.

(c) Richard La Londe, "Look to See"

He was one of the first fused glass instructors through the Bullseye Glass supplier, and has served as an instructor from his studio and at the famous Pilchuck Glass School.

What I have admired about La Londe's work are the brilliant colors and the intense amount of symbology he uses in his work.  While I am not certain how much background he has with Native American cultures, I find it in abundance throughout his works.  And I quite like it.

(c) Richard La Londe, "World View"

I have tried, without success, for the past two years in a row to get to his class on Whidbey Island.  It is still amongst my artistic bucket list to study with him.  Perhaps, assuming the world hasn't ended beforehand, 2013 will be the year I get to take classes with/from him.

(c) Richard La Londe, "New Beginnings"

I have both his books and have poured over them intently, studying the color combinations, the manner in which he constructed the larger murals and to just enjoy the overall works. While it has been a few years since he has apparently done any large scale commissions, I believe that his experimentation with the Bullseye Glass in the 80s was seminal work and that I, and other fused glass artists owe thanks to him for his experiments.

(c) Richard La Londe, "Mythopia"

Public Glass Artist Narcissus Quagliata

Narcissus Quagliata is an Italian-born glass artist who is world renowned for his exquisite large-scale installations in brilliant colors.  My favorite is the piece he is probably best known for and which garners an enormous number of photographs by visitors since its 2007 installation. "Wind, Fire and Time" Dome of Light at the Taiwanese mass transit station is a show stopper. It has 4,500 glass panels with four themes: water, earth, light and fire. Respectively, these represent birth, growth, glory, destruction and rebirth.

 (c) Narcissus Quagliata

But he has other works that are equally gorgeous such as the 

at the "Divinity in Light" at the Santa Maria Degli Angeli cupola/rotunda.

and at the Discovery Center in Washington D.C. he created the

"Discovery Mural"

Quagliata has had his work featured by the Bullseye Glass company (one of the largest glass suppliers to fused/flat/warm--these are interchangeable terms--artists).  He has taught at the highly regarded Pilchuck School, founded in part by fellow studio glass artist Dale Chihuly.  He is regarded by fused glass artists as  the master of flat/warm public glass installations.

Video with Quagliata

For me, he is an inspiration and a mentor of sorts--his methods and techniques are of great interest to me and his ability to create such enormous large scale glass artworks is a feat which I'd dearly love to emulate.  It is a matter of practice and opportunity.  In the meantime, I can learn a lot form his artworks, his book, and his videos. 

Discovering Ted

To stir up creativity, I suggest “show searching.”

I must be living in a cave.  Since I have been chained to my desk for weeks going on months now, trying to work on the “business” end of my art (auctions, selling, photos and text, proposals, lining up classes, etc.)  I’ve not really been doing a lot of the art creation that I prefer.

I admit, last night I was too exhausted after caring for a friend’s puppy for the past five days, to do anything that really required brain cells.  Instead, I was preparing photographs for bohemianartcafe.etsy.com and for my upcoming

Glass Act Auction 

on August 20 at 11 a.m.  

(P.S. You’re invited.  RSVP and I will continue to add new and more items for the auction.)

Raspberry suncatcher, will be auctioned at
Glass Act Auction
11 a.m. August 20 

I was sort of bored with the usual TV stuff, having recently finished watching my DVDs of Castle and The Mentalist.  I admit, I haven’t really been watching all that much live TV or checking out UTube lately.  I know the Olympics were on, but honestly, there’s only so much activity a body can watch without becoming exhausted by osmosis. 

Okay, so…maybe it’s been more than a few months that I’ve been chained to the cave I call my office, since last night for the first time I discovered TED talks.

I know many people have been checking this Technology/Entertainment/Design Conference for a while.  Years.  Well, for me, last night it was a revelation.  I was using my Roku and searching through Netflix by just searching a r t.  And up popped Ted Talks about art.


So, tonight, when I continue to work on preparations for Glass Act Auction, I’ll  tune in again and see what inspires me.  If you haven’t discovered Ted Talks, now is a good time.

Introducing our New Brand "Espresso Bar Designs"

It's such an exciting and happy day! In keeping with the "foodie" theme of The Bohemian Art Cafe--we serve art, not food! (TM) and this blog "The Bohemian Art Buffet," we are rolling out our very own product brand and label, Espresso Bar Designs (TM).  (I've always loved and wanted to own my very own coffee shop and this just seemed to fit so perfectly.)

We're starting first with the roll out of our Jewelry lines--wire wrapped pendants and rings, scrabble tile pendants, painted domino pendants, fused glass pendants, bracelets, rings and hair accessories,  reversible stained glass pendants, earrings and charm bracelets.  They are being uploaded to our store and new items will be added each week.

To celebrate this roll out, we are offering free shipping for the next 10 days (offer ends August 11).  It's the perfect time to get a jump start on your holiday shopping, stock up on "girlfriend" gifts for birthdays and other celebrations, or to pamper yourself with something special.

We also offer a variety of fused and stained glass and found object sun catchers, wine stoppers and cheese and hor d'ouvre glass trays.  We will be adding some of our unique designs in fabric by the yard and uniquely designed packaged papers for art journaling and scrapbooking in the not too distant future. 

Our brand lines will begin being made available at select boutiques and gift shops and possibly through mail order catalog if we can get through the lengthy negotiations process.  We're growing and excited about it.  Won't you help us celebrate by stopping by and shopping!  

Five Things I Love About Technology

Okay, I know I complain sometimes about the pitfalls of technology (viruses, Trojans and malware--Oh My!), but in the long run, I really love so many things that my computer, software and the Internet provide.  Like my Etsy shop BohemianArtCafe.

(c)SZing Pink and white hand painted on wood and wire wrapped pendant 2" x 2".  $30.

So here's my David Lettermanesque list:

#5.  Information--I love browsing and being able to follow links, quickly look up definitions and find other artists and their work.  Yesterday, having a memory fart, I looked up "subsume" because for the life of me I couldn't access it despite trying to force my synapsi to work harder. (is synapsi a word? perhaps I'll look that up online.)

 (c)SZing Koi fish fused transfer fused into opaque glass necklace.  $20.

#4.  Not having to write long hand--even though for my journals I still do and I have this undeniable fear that I should continue to write everything or print hard copies (my need to go paperless fights this) in case technology fails or, as it inevitably will, changes and I lose my "stuff."  I'm a much faster typist that writist. 

(c)SZing Beautiful turquoise and aqua dichroic glass on black glass with wire wrapping pendant.  $20.

#3.  Access to friends via email and social networking.  I'm growing to love using Facebook for example, just to see what people are up to and get a break from unpacking the studio.  Also so cool to catch up with people I haven't seen or heard from in years, as well as to make new connections with friends I hope to meet soon.

#2.  It's quick, it's (mostly) easy to learn and use, it makes me feel connected no matter where I go (okay, okay, I know some people call this the leash-syndrome.)  I LIKE knowing that if I need info or to reach someone all I have to do is pull out my cell phone.

(c)SZing A large variety of pierced earrings.  Some are glass beads, some are not. 

All are fun and beautiful to wear and very affordable at $12 a pair.

 (c) SZing Charming butterfly earrings.  $12.

#1.  Etsy, Ebay and Pinterest.  Wow, wow and wow.  Oh, and did I forget Amazon? 

(c)SZing REVERSIBLE (yes, two sides for the price of one!) stained glass necklace. 

 Butterflies on one side, flowers on the other.  $20 with chain.

Speaking of Etsy, I just uploaded a bunch of my jewelry and a few other non-jewelry art pieces and supplies to my shop, BohemianArtCafe.   Please come and shop, like my shop, tweet and re-tweet, share the link to the shop with others.  Not having a public venue studio as I used to, I'm having to rely more on virtual storefronts. I appreciate your help in this. Muchos gracias!! 

 

(c)SZing REVERSIBLE (yes, two sides for the price of one!) stained glass necklace.

Pink and blue abstraction on one side, yellow and blue abstraction on the other.  $20 with chain.

Celebrating Glass Artist Daniel Yerdon

Yesterday I got away from both my desk and unpacking the studio and went into Ocala for an art meeting and adventure.  Along the way, I happened to stop at a consignment furniture shop that had a "stained glass" sign in its window.  At the very back of the store, there is another shop called The Glass Studio where glass artist Daniel Yerdon has his studio and display shop.  His shop is located at 2005 E. Silver Springs Blvd, Ocala Florida.  I'm excited also because there might be some opportunity in the not too distant future for me to perhaps do a few enameling or other glass related glasses at this venue.  Since I love to teach and don't really have a lot of studio space to do so anymore, this would be so wonderful.  And Daniel is quite likable and approachable artist.

Daniel was working with a customer when I stopped by so I browsed around.  He had some lovely large stained glass panels including this lovely window panel of wine, cheese and wineglass, featuring the bottoms of actual wine glasses in the top portion of the panel.

(c) Daniel Yerdon, wine, cheese, wineglass, used by permission of the artist. Photo by SZing.

Isn't this a lovely panel?  Would be a delightful addition to a wine or cheese shop or a cozy restaurant in my opinion.

artwork (c) Daniel Yerdon, photo by SZing, used by permission of the artist

Spontaneously decided to take photos so I could share them here, so no preparations were made for better exhibiting or lights, but his website shows much better photos of his lovely works.   I love the serenity of the heron.  Unfortunately, the lighting didn't work out for the photograph of a large mermaid panel that I especially liked. Glass can be quite challenging to photograph I've found over the years and almost impossible to not have some glimmer of light show on it.

 photograph (c) SZing of Daniel Yerdon in his studio

This is Daniel.  He was so very friendly and willing to share his work and story with me.  He told me he is a K-5 math and computer teacher during the school year and his studio is open from 4 to 6 or 7 p.m. during that time frame.  During the summer, he opens the studio from 11 a.m. to ummm, I think he said 5 but it might be 6 p.m.  He said he teaches some classes and has students who come by (one came in while we were chatting) to get his advice and assistance on various projects.

 photo (c) SZing

 photo (c) SZing

photo (c) SZing

Daniel works in both leaded and Tiffany-style stained glass and also does fused glass, particularly jewelry.  He uses COE 96 glass as his preference.  In his shop, he also provides supplies to local glass artists if they require assistance getting specific items.  (So good to know since I, for one, usually only like to order if I'm getting a lot of stuff at a time.)

 (c) Daniel Yerdon.  Small glass faces made into jewelry. Used by permission of the artist.

Aren't these little faces adorable?  I just love them.

Daniel and I discussed the continuing popularity of dichroic glass.  It can be quite mesmerizing.

GLASS SCIENCE LESSON FOR THE DAY:

I've always found it quite interesting and love explaining to students how a single pattern of dichroic (dichroic material causes visible light to split in distinct wavelengths i.e., color) glass might have as many as 50 layers of micro lasered metallic imprints on the glass the sum total being less than 30 to 35 millionths of an inch--about 760 to 890 nm--that's nano meter.  1 nano-meter is 10^(-9) meter or 0.000000001 meter.  PRETTY THIN, which is why it is technically called thin-film optics.

The process is apparently quite involved and quite expensive--1/4th pound of dichroic glass (a fairly small amount for a glass artist) can cost $50 or more (retail). The difficulty in making the glass is the reason dichroic glass itself is so expensive and the process requires very specific laser equipment and technological know how.  There are a few suppliers providing a fairly large array of patterns, but it isn't something that anyone could go into the kitchen and create.  I acknowledge here that I am most certainly simplifying the process excessively but I want it to be easily understood by the lay-person, so my apologies to the experts out there who might take exception to this explanation. 

Anyhoo, Daniel uses a lot of dichroic patterned glass in his smaller jewelry piece.  Here is my very favorite piece which I discovered in his shop yesterday. 

 

(c) Daniel Yerdon, Dichroic Gecko necklace.  Used by permission of the artist. Photo by SZing.

Isn't that just the coolest piece of jewelry?  Gorgeous and fun.  If I were still living in New Mexico, I'd be wearing that with a black turtleneck this winter!!

If you happen to be in the Ocala area, I highly suggest a stop by Daniels shop. And to Daniel, I say, THANKS for letting me share your work and taking time to visit with me.  I hope we'll be able to do some artwork together and I look forward to the possibility of teaching at The Glass Studio.



Time to Make the Donuts....

Livin' the Dream!  Stayed up very late (early) taking photos, cropping and resizing them for posting on my website, Etsy and Ebay.  This process of selling requires dedication and while I MUCH prefer the face time of a shop or studio where people come in, chat, look, try on, buy....this methodology is also a part of the new Bohemian Art Cafe way since we don't HAVE a public location to sell from at this time...

If you see something you like and want to buy, you can email me (include your name and mailing address!) and I'll send you a paypal invoice, which will include shipping/handling of $5.50 each or if you buy more than one item, $5.50 for the first item and $3.25 for each additional item s/h.  You pay, I send. :-)  They will be posted on Etsy within the next week.

(c) SZing Live Your Dreams Charm bracelet.  Each charm is

soldered to stay on the bracelet.  Bracelet is 8" long.  $28

(c)SZing  In honor of Independence Day, some cute red glass,

white (clear and silver beads) and blue bead drop earrings.  $12.

(c)SZing  This may be TMI, but a butterfly will be the next tattoo

I get, in honor of transformations (plan to have it done on my

left hand in bright colors.)  These charming butterflies with

irridescent purple/green/blue beads are adorable drop earrings.  $12.

 (c)SZing  This charming koi charm pendant is a fused transfer

on opaque white glass cabochon.  Sweet & adorable.

$20 with 16" snake chain.

(c) Szing  The lime green glass sets off this irridescent

purple patterned dichroic glass well.  Pendant is 2" from top 

of bail to bottom and 7/8" wide.  Include 16" snake chain.

$20.

 (c)SZing  I love orange.  Who knew?  This is a textural piece...

the two bars of orange glass and the black center piece are

tack fused meaning they have not completely lost their own

dimensionality into the base glass.  (My frustrated quilter

takes over my studio now and then).  Includes 16" snake

chain.  Pendant is 2" long x 1" wide.  $20.

 (c)Szing This is a green, turquoise and metallics painted pendant

that is lacquered.  Pendant is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square.  Includes 16"

snake chain.  $20.

 (c)Szing This is a purple, pink and metallic silver painted pendant

that is lacquered.  Pendant is 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square. Includes 16"

snake chain.  $15.

 (c) SZing  This is a reversible "stained glass" style necklace.  The artwork on each

side was digitally created.  A fun way to have two-looks-in-one piece.  Includes

a 16" snake chain.  $20.

 (c) SZing  This is a reversible "stained glass" style necklace.  The artwork on each

side was digitally created by me and is totally one of a kind. 

 A fun way to have two-looks-in-one piece.  Includes

a 16" snake chain.  $20.

Celebrating Glass Artist Karen Reed

I had intended to do this three weeks ago while the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement was being celebrated and the Glass Art Society conference was being held in Toledo, OH, but, as happens, technology and life got away from me.  So today I am celebrating my good friend and the amazing fused and stained glass artist, Karen Reed of Earthstar Glass in Huntsville, Alabama.

(c) SZing The delightful Karen Reed (blue shirt),

and three of my other favorite glass art people

(Raphael Scnepf, Allison Klinger and Marlena Marenka) at Arrowmont.

Karen and I met while taking a class at Arrowmont School of Craft in Gatlinburg, TN several years ago.  I was impressed with her kindness and skill.  She brought "give aways" of shards/leftovers from some of her screen printed glass pieces.  As I am a frustrated wanna-be quilter and deeply in love with textures and pattern, I fell instantly in love with the lovely tid-bits she brought.  She made a "quilted" panel and I also made a small sampler from some of the screen printed pieces she shared.

The lovely quilted sampler of screen printed pieces fused together--made by Karen Reed.

Artwork (c) Karen Reed, picture taken by SZing and (c) SZing, used by permission of the artist.

A gorgeous piece and amazingly just a "play around" panel.

Karen is well known for her stained glass and is frequently commissioned to do large scale windows and works.  She teaches at Arrowmont (I am looking forward to the day when my schedule will coincide with hers so I can take one of her classes), and she also is a regular writer for Fired Arts & Crafts Magazine, among others.

You can see the "quilting" influence here.  WOW!  I aspire to emulate the skill and beauty of Karen's delightful works.  Amazing!  I can only imagine how long this took for her to assemble and fire.

 (c) Karen Reed "Dreamtime", used by permission of the artist.

Some of her work reminds me a great deal of the great artist Susan Seddon Boulet, but is uniquely Karen's own work.  Astounding frit painted glasswork!

 (c) Karen Reed "She Who Sees Through Dreams", used by permission of the artist.

(c)Karen Reed, "Silent Wonder", used by permission of the artist.

My hat is off to Ms. Karen Reed for her inspiring, delightful and gorgeous body of work in the field of glass.  My hat is also off to Ms. Karen Reed for being one of the nicest, most noble human beings I've ever met.  May she continue to prosper and thrive!

Twisted in a Good Way...

As I mentioned last week, I took a wire wrapping class this weekend at the Bead Strand in Ocala with Miranda Turner of Wishful Wire (she does not yet have a website--sorry).  I had been practicing my wire wrapping for several weeks before taking the class and had made a few beaded pendants and some rings that I like very much...

(c) SZing Wire wrapped black swarovsky beaded ring (sz. 8)  $20

(c) SZing Wire wrapped black and dark pink swarovsky beaded ring (sz.6)  $20

(c) SZing Wire wrapped green/purple irridescent swarovsky beaded ring (sz. 7)  $20

So far, I've made about a dozen rings to sell (and kept three--a shiny silver beaded one, one of the black beaded ones, and a dark purple beaded one).  I'm selling these for $20 a piece (if you want one, email me and we can make arrangements.)  I'm going to be posting some of these at Bohemianartcafe on Etsy and maybe also see how they do on Ebay.  I'm going to work this week on making some of these rings using sea glass beads and will post the results when I have some completed.

I worked on a couple of beaded pendants but they are incomplete--I need to add bails and want to do some additional embellishment, I think.  This is what they look like thus far:

(c) SZing Work in progress wire wrapped beaded pendant. 

(c) SZing Work in progress wire wrapped beaded pendant.



I had such a great time at the wire wrapping class--there were only four of us, so it was the perfect size class--if one of us got stuck, none of us got too far behind while Miranda helped out.  She is a very good instructor with fairly clear directions and easy to follow along.  I specifically decided to take this class because fine soldered silver working 1) takes me a long time and 2) is getting quite costly, but I have a great many fused glass cabochons I have made over the past few years and wanted to find a way to incorporate them better into some jewelry.  This seems to be a perfect solution!!

I used an oval piece of black glass with two pieces of dichroic fused into the cabochon as my class practice piece. I was very pleased with the result.... I have already gotten several lovely remarks about it when I wore it to the grocery store and church.

(c) SZing Wire wrapped fused glass cabochon pendant (NFS)

Of course, Saturday evening and Sunday, since it was scorching hot and humid, we stayed indoors and had a movie festival.  I used my "breakfast in bed" serving tray to lay out jewelry making materials while I watched tv and worked on several other pendants.

(c) SZing Forest stone wire wrapped pendant. 

This is a square stone bead I've had for a while, not glass.

The "copper" color wire is plastic covered over wire and

will not leave the green residue regular copper wire normally does. 

Approximately 1 1/4" l x 1" w.   $35.

 (c) SZing Wire wrapped red sea glass pendant. 

Approximately 2" l x 1 1/4" w,

$40.

(c) SZing Wire wrapped pink and gold stone pendant.

Approximately 1 3/4" l x 1 1/2" w. NFS.

Since my studio is not quite up and running, it is AWESOME to have a creative outlet.  I do have to say that my resolution to "not make anything new until I sold all my existing inventory" really didn't last long.  I just can't not create! (sorry for the double negative there, but it is the only way I can adequately describe this drive to create.)  It is truly a passion within me driving me to express my creativity.

Not only was the wire wrapping class a delight, but I was asked by the owner of The Bead Strand if I would like to hold a trunk show at the shop in the winter and we scheduled it for November 2nd/3rd.  Very exciting.  I am going to see about finding some other venues where I might be able to do similar trunk shows in and around the Florida area.  Things are moving along despite not having an "open to the public studio."  Happy Day.  Now on to the excitement of starting to load some items to Bohemianartcafe on Etsy.