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I pay attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship.
I am also committed to recycling, and will incorporate scrap stained glass, bottle bottoms and handles, broken or intact antique
light fixtures and fused or pressed glass into my designs. On a whim, I may add texture with horseshoe nails,
marbles, bevels, scrap metal, beads or ballchain. In my studio I have a 6-inch kiln where I am experimenting with making my
own glass focal pieces.
The Lure of Beach Glass.
Manufactured glass,
discarded or lost, often finds its way to the ocean. Broken into pieces, it is reformed by nature and discovered
by beachcombers. These finds can be frosted pebbles hundreds of years old, or more contemporary fragments such
as sections of sea washed bottles, vases, glasses or stoppers creating nuggets of natural art.
The sea glass I use is harvested directly from beaches, each fragment a jewel from the tides where rock and sand do the washing
and tumbling, not machines. Machine tumbled glass tends to be uniform, and lacks the texture and unique history of genuine
sea-washed fragments. It is the irregularities of this raw material that allow me to produce art that has an organic feel.
Once fabricated, these clouds can never be repeated, as no two pieces of beach glass or found treasure are ever the same.
Sometimes the glass fragments I use have a twisted, melted appearance. This may be due to glass being tossed into a beach bonfire. Perhaps by a group of fisherman keeping warm while telling tales of the day's catch, or someone at a beach
party. The intense heat of a long burning fire can melt the glass, and fuse it
with stones or sand.
My personal
sea glass collection for the most part, has been gathered from my 21 years in Southeast Alaska. Some of my special finds are
shards from the running lights of a WWII Minesweeper, an opium bottle from the site of an historic whaling station, (Now the
site of a salmon hatchery), an antique first aid bottle stopper, several Russian trade beads and unusual pressed glass pieces.
I have found fragments of mason jars, crockery,
crystal, and pottery from cruise ships, ferries and fishing vessels, as well as those items left behind or discarded from
adventurers and scoundrels; pioneers and Native Alaskans.
In my collection of treasures, I have several blown glass balls used as floats by the Asian fishing fleet to hold up
their nets. The sea story goes like this... they are hand blown from coke bottles on board and some are stamped on the bottom
with the artist/fisherman's insignia. They are lost, and drift into the islands
of Southeast Alaska on the Japanese current, bobbing in the ocean, just waiting to be scooped up by a lucky fisherman,
or, they may land on the beaches to be broken and tossed in the waves.
These broken glass balls add striking
texture and frosty color to my beach clouds.
Laura gathering at "the point." Alaska circa 1998
I am enamored of glass and have gathered bits and pieces from Alaska, Vermont, Arizona,
and Washington.
I have even persuaded my parents into helping me dig into old burn piles from abandoned mining or dumping sites in Colorado. A cobalt blue glass Noxzema bottle and amber chlorox
bottoms were several of our exquisite finds.
this is Alpine cloud. c. 2005
she has been sold but I have several others available in my studio and always a work in progress.
please see my photo pages for works available.
enjoy.
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