Yesterday it was colder in Alabama than in Alaska. Evidence of climate change? This is a new artwork based on a recent trip to Alaska. Although they are beautiful, the glaciers are melting at an astonishing pace over time. Glacial melting is a stark reminder of our current climate warming.

Glacial Melting

Halloween is almost here, and I just installed my new art work at 5 Points Gallery in Durham, NC for October. Stores are already showing Christmas decorations, but wait. We need some Halloween fun first this month. Now I’m starting to gear up for the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Art Market at the Raleigh Convention Center, Nov 1-3.

Spooky

I’m finally getting back to some glass fusing after an otherwise busy summer. This piece is called, “Tardigrades on the Moon”. It was inspired by the recent contamination of the moon by a space craft crash and spill of these tiny creatures.

Tardigrades on the Moon

This spring I took a printing class at Duke Documentary Studies and learned all about archival papers and printing. Here’s a photo I took last summer and added a fused glass rocky beach to the foreground.

Rocky Beach photo and fused glass beach

I will have my piece “Augmented Eternity” in the Art of Mind exhibit at Imurj gallery in Raleigh during May. The exhibit benefits the Alzheimer Association, and it brings back memories of my mother’s last 3 years in the memory unit of a retirement community. While I’m pretty certain she didn’t have Alzheimer’s disease, she did have dementia. She was lost in time and place, but she always knew people and even learned something new while she was in memory care. I will be interested in seeing the exhibit, and there will be a reception next Friday, 1st Friday art walk in Raleigh.

Augmented Eternity

My art show upstairs at Pleiades Gallery in Durham April 4-28 will look back at my microbiology roots. I will also have a guest artist joining me, Jane Hartman, who also fuses glass with a microbiology theme.
One of my pieces, shown here, is based on my research on lung cancer and toxicology. It shows isolated alveolar type II cells that have unique lamellar bodies that make surfactant so that the airways don’t stick together and make it impossible to breathe.

Lung Type II Cells

I just finished a new piece called “Chemistry” for our themed exhibit coming up after this weekend. It was fun making 4 inch tiles that all contain the secret ingredient (hint- it’s not glass). Come see the show in person. It begins on January 31.

Chemistry

I’m working hard to build a new “solo” show about the microcosm for Pleiades Gallery in April. Actually, I will host another fused glass artist friend, Jane Hartman, who also creates glass art with microbiological themes. In my spare time, (like in front of the boring TV news), I’ve been playing with my new toy from Santa (that is myself), a slightly newer iPad with a really neat Pencil. I took a little class over at the Apple Store on the Pencil and purchased a program called “Procreate” for $10, which is really fun. Here is a little of my doodling. Next month I’ll try to have some of my new glass mounted and photographed.

I’m madly trying to clean up my studio for visitors and finish a few pieces that are in progress. This year has been full of fun, and my head is full of ideas. Here is a new piece that is on exhibit this month at Pleiades Gallery.

Winging It

I’m a little behind on posting due to travel and house renovation projects. Now I’m getting ready for the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Art Market at the Raleigh Convention Center Nov 2 (2-8pm), Nov 3 (10-6pm), and Nov 4 (11-4pm). I will be at booth A3, and I will be giving a demonstration/presentation on fused glass powder printing there at 3pm on Sunday. Here’s an image of glass powder prints that were printed with the same colors but fused at different temperatures. They are different texturally too.

Sunrise, Sunset