Life After The Masters!

Fused Glass Star, B.Faulkner 2014

I'm giving myself a glass star for successfully completing my Masters Degree in Fine Arts.  It was five years in the making, and wow, does it feel ever so good to have completion.

So, what's next?  More glass of course!  It never ends, this learning process, and really I wouldn't have it any other way.  The glass work I did for my masters focused on the mandala and the heroine's journey.  I see myself continuing on with those two elements and expanding the technique and process.  There is so much I want to create and so many ideas spinning around in my head.  The ideas come faster than my hands can work though, so, much sketching in the journal and sketchbooks to keep them near.  I am working on some painting with glass and experimenting with that technique and firing processes.  It's unending the directions I could go.

I have reopened my Portland, Maine gallery, Heron Point Gallery, where I am exhibiting my fused glass work.  Fused glass Mandalas are on display and for sale, as well as my jewelry and glass bowls.  Heron Point Gallery is open Thursday through Saturday to give me time in the studio for design and creation the rest of the week.  There is a special element to the gallery this year where I'll be featuring the work an artist friend of mine who recently passed away.  More information on this to follow.

I'll share some of the photos that speak to what I've been doing since graduation in December.  To celebrate, my husband took me on a trip through the Panama Canal on a cruise ship.  Yes, I'm a lucky girl :)

This is a collection of some of the calligraphed mandalas I created during our winter vacation to the Panama Canal.  Pencil, colored pencil and watercolours.  These incorporate words or letters that are first drawn and then enhanced with color and design.  I still draw a mandala every day.

Going through the locks of the Panama Canal.  Wow.  I can't say enough about how fascinating this was for me.  Our ship took about 2 hours to get through the locks.  There was no room to spare on the port or starboard side!

Back home after the warmth of Panama to find more snow, and more snow.  I took this shot one day as I was driving around the coast enjoying the scenery.  This is in Freeport, Maine at Winslow Park.  The color of the water reminded me of the islands we visited en route to Panama, but that's about all the connection.

A glorious day spent at the Boston Design Center on a tour with my niece, Amy, to the various inspirational design shops.  This is a display board in a rug shop that I was drawn to.  My friends Berri and Susan came with me and our brains were on inspiration overload so we had to go to the North End and eat some delicious Italian food to get our strength back.

One of my latest dichroic glass pendants.  In this piece I have created some of my own dichroic design right in the glass and then layered more on top.  This piece has been fired 3 times in the kiln.  I don't know if I can bear to part with it.  I've been in production mode with jewelry pieces getting ready for the summer tourists.  Let's hope they all need some dichroic bling!

As I type this, James Taylor's "The secret of life" is playing on Pandora...it's all about enjoying the passing of time, and that's what this photo speaks to.  A delightful afternoon coffee in our sunny window with my husband.  I think there were some Italian anise cookies on the plate at one point.

That's enough for now.  Time to catch up on some gallery dusting!

Anticipation of Summer

The oak trees are taking their sweet time emerging this spring.  

   It seems as if spring has taken forever to get into gear this year.  Luckily for me watching things unfold is one of my most favorite pastimes.  The greens are fresh and almost neon until the chlorophyll does it's job sucking the light's energy.  The robins have been busy building a nest outside my bathroom window in the eaves and am waiting to hear the peeps of 4 baby robins born one day after the other.

Japanese Maple sapling.  Year two.

Our 20 foot Japanese Maple tree succumbed to a nasty disease a few years back but managed to sow a few seeds before it left.  This little guy is growing in the middle of a rock garden.  I have no idea how the roots have found any soil but nature does amazing things.

I just finished the 7th semester of my MFA program at Heartwood College and had the semester presentation and critique this weekend.  All I can say is, phew, nice to have that behind me and summer ahead. 

Small Mandala Bowl, "Identification with the Masculine".  Fused glass layers and silk-screened print.

"Strong Women Can Say No" mandala vessel, multiple layers of fused glass

Dichroic glass earrings with freshwater pearls.

Having three months away from school work will be a welcome change.  Three more semesters to go including a thesis and then the real work starts.  That doesn't mean glass work will stop over the summer.  At the moment I am designing and building some glass jewelry boxes for a show at Figureworks Gallery www.figureworks.com in NYC at the end of this month.  At White Cap Grille in Portland's Old Port I am showing and selling my fused jewelry and fused glass mandalas. 
www.whitecapgrille.com (shameless plug!  My husband and I own this restaurant and the food is delicious!)

White Cap Grille is always open for First Friday Art Walk which happens to be this Friday evening.  It's a big weekend in Portland, the Art Walk and the Old Port Festival!  I've been talked into woman-ing the sandwich booth outside the restaurant (and will be making and selling those mini whoopie pies at that booth).

My first attempt at making a glass book

A while back I made this fused glass accordion book with individual mandalas on each glass page.  One of the things I'd like to work on this summer is another glass book.  One that needs drilling and multiple fusings.  I'm hoping to use the theme of "summer" to coincide with our book group's summer project.  I belong to the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts at USM and we have a critique group that meets every month to share ideas and critique work. 

I've got a few workshops lined up for the summer as well, both taking and teaching.  I'm taking Paul Johnson's "Spirit Houses" workshop at The Strong Arm Bindery in Portland as well as a couple of David Wolfe's letterpress workshops.  I am teaching Calligraphy at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village on June 22nd and a Floral Print Book with Gel Prints and Haiku Workshop on September 14th.  If you're interested please check out this link http://www.shaker.lib.me.us/calendar.html
Space is limited for each Shaker Workshop.

Next week I am headed down to Boston to Glass Boston for 3 days.  GlassBoston is a four-day event that includes lectures, demonstrations, tours, a film series, gallery exhibitions, bbq dinner, non-juried show & sale, closing party, and pre/post conference workshops. GlassBoston has been organized by: MIT Glass Lab, NOCA Glass School @ APG, The Society of Arts and Crafts, & Strattman Design.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other artists are up to in the glass world.

So, always looking, always learning, always doing.  Wouldn't have it any other way!

Today is all about the jewelry

Jewelry. Hot glass jewelry. A passion that takes me to moments of invisible time. Colors, layers, textures take me to places that make time stand still. Cutting, layering, capping, changing my mind--it's all good.

Bling is Good!

Lately I've been cranking out jewelry. Tiny glass pieces cut and layered with delicate precision. It brings me inward as I intensely work closer-up with small pieces of glass. There seems to be a rhythym to how I work...a pattern emerges. There seems to be a dance between the tiny intimate work and the larger more spacial sculptural pieces. I like the dance, the balance keeps me fresh and constantly evovling. It happens all the time.

The fused jewelry always brings a smile to my face as it comes to life. I love trying on each piece to make sure that it passes inspection. I think this particular bracelet was born on a trip to the Bahamas...the frothy white of the pearls and that aqua blue warm ocean glass...mmmm, I can feel the heat of the sun on my skin. We've had 22 days of rain and counting this month...so this bit of bling is a much needed warmth!