I have been suffering from Artus Interuptus for sometime now, because I hadn't seen the grouted end-result of a window I was commissioned to make. I make my windows by gluing salvaged stained glass (I go to the dump of a stained glass factory and take their rejects) to old salvaged (a fancy word for trash picked) windows. I had glued the glass on to the window, but had to leave town, so a friend grouted it for me and I never saw it completed. So finally, here it is, in all its pulled-together grouted beauty. It's an image of Mt. Chimborazo (a mountain in Ecquador) in the distance, behind a Star of Panama (aka Poinsettia) tree. This was the view the people I made it for saw out the window of their home in Ecquador. They emigrated long ago and live in the US now, but this view, from this place will always be the home of their hearts. There's a lot of me in it: the vivid, tropical colors of my childhood; the longing for it in this cold, gray place. It's a joy when the image I'm making for someone else speaks so much of me as well. I'm really happy with it.
8 comments:
that is absolutely beautiful! And I love that you do it with thrown away glass - truly transforming trash into treasure. I also love that you made the view of a place that is missed. Gorgeous work.
Thanks. Using things that other people have thrown away, revealing the beauty in them, is a really important part of the process for me. In part because of my kids - two of them abandonned at birth and put in an orphanage, another one autistic. But also because I've never followed societally approved of paths in my life. I was always the flakey, impractical, dreamy, artist/writer younger sister with a fist full of impractical degrees and no game plan for where, exactly, I was going. Not even a map to tell me how I might get there. So that's me up there, cracked, glued together and, yes, beautiful.
As someone that can't draw a straight line with a ruler, you artsy people always amaze me. That is so very lovely!
Thank you. My windows mean a lot to me. With life as busy as it is, I don't get to make a lot of them - and they take forever. but they are among my greatest joys. I hope to get a web site set up and link it to my blog to show off my other window.
It's a masterpiece. So much longing and emotion in that image. Congratulations!
Thanks for visiting and the kind affirmation about giving up my job. Georgeous colors in your work!
Thanks. I do love my tropical hues.
This is lovely. Simply lovely. I adore stained glass and revel in the glorious light when sitting in an ancient Cathedral.
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