Cascade: Earth Wind & Fire

       This began with an experiment, using a broken storm window.  When removing an old pane, the panel cracked into three distinct pieces.  In order to practice some cuts for an upcoming commission, I thought that this would be the perfect chance to envision the new window.  It mutated from clear glass to this work. I envisioned it as a cascade, inspired by Diana's Bath and other mountainside waterfalls in the White and Green Mountains of New England. Conway.  When my first view saw it, he immediately said, "Earth, Wind, & Fire", and so it shall be.

  It was originally an idea to use as a interior storm window for my bedroom, the window where the photograph above was taken.  The size is 30" x 26", which fits snuggly into the window.  The bedroom window faces North so direct sunlight would never illuminate it.  This morning the sunlight brilliantly fills the land, as if to cheer on the last day of summer.  So downstairs we took the window, to the porch, to be photographed in the bright rays of the beloved source of all life, as we know it. Here is a view looking to the East, with foliage far behind it, and sunlight full, but not direct.

   We have decided to leave it there, until it goes on public display (in a gallery near you?) so we may enjoy it each morning.  The rivulets of clear glass reflect the alternating light and seasonal change, as summer green turns to radiant reds and oranges of autumn, eventually to the solid white of winter.  The colored glass also produces a provocative shadow, on the somber grey floor.  

Evolution On the Table

Two New Windows taking Shape:
Redesigning a broken old storm window into a new pattern . . . (30 x 26)

Working on sketches for a Lotus Meditation Window

Also got my kiln back in working order after some frightening results of rapidly overheated glass.  The heat so intense that the kiln wash was burned off, the glass crackled, then sealed onto/into the shelf.  Another piece ballooned forming a central bubble  which was cellophane thin, its delicate lines of glass paint turned into fat flattened worms.  Many thanks to Chuck for finding the problem (other than me).

Mountains Views

      Since moving here, on the banks of the Moose River, in the Connecticut River Valley, with the Green Mountains to the West, and the White Mountains to the East,  I fam discovering a unique landscape, as enchanting and mysterious as Tolkien's Middle Earth.  The mountains may not have the superlative beauty of the Rockies, but oh, do they have  a personality that rivals all the areas I've lived in before. They dance with color and the light, as the the weather and seasons change.  You would swear, sometimes, that they alter their shape, yet like a friend, always familiar and fascinating, commanding, continually filling your eyes and heart with true awe.

   Over the years I've acquired pieces of glass just for the sheer beauty, often seeing a landscape or a form in them, as I await the 'inner voice' to use them in a window. In some of these scraps I have seen mountainscapes.  Three little 10 x 12 cuts, that I've had for several years coalesced in my mind, and the following work was cut assembled, foiled and soldered into shape. This is before adding the dark patina.  Size is 13 3/4" x 25 1/2". 

     Here is the completed piece, "A Window on the Mountains" hanging in the "Paper and Painting Room" portion of my studio.

        One of the joys of Stained Glass is the daily patterns of colored light cast by the installed window.  The morning sun, of the work, and of nature, seems to rejoice in the flamboyant yellow of the begonia, to greet you as you enter my home.

Holy Wars: Apocalypse in Gaza

    Western Civilization has begotten a heritage of icons imbeded in the beliefs of our ancestors, which many still hold today as truth.  One belief is that the God, of Jews, Christians and Muslims alike would one day destroy the evil and establish righteousness across the face of the earth, under a Messiah. Historical evidence displays that the greatest perpetration of executing the will of this dissatisfied, judgmental Deity is by humankind.  The persistence of an apocalyptic end to us all haunts our cultural inheritance.  Over a period of years I worked on the following work, guided by Medieval Manuscripts, and stories from the minds and mouths of Evangelicals of all persuasions.  Theologically based heinous acts, blatant as 9/11, ethnic and tribal wars and of civic reactionary murders continue to wrack destruction on our world, even while children play and, as good, average, productive people try to enjoy and embrace this delicate, wonderful life.

Panel 1:  The Angel of the Lord (Jehovah, Allah, Jesus/God) sounds the Trumpet

Panel 2:  At Play in the Fields of the Lord

Panel 3:  The Wrath of God

Panel 4:  From Dust Were Ye Made and to Dust Ye Shall Return

The Work as and "Illuminated Panel" (36" x 42")

The Message is simple.  We are tired of holy wars, of Gods fighting Gods and humans killing humans.  Kindness, a sense of wonder, and Hope are divine acts, and the most human. 

The Child and the Deep Blue Sea

     I just devoured a delicious little book titled Around the World in 100 Years, by Jean Fritz.  It is written for students of middle school in a language given the realistic patina of a youthful eye, unlike the more hallowed and glamorized version that we where tutored with in my youth.  In Ms. Fritz's version, with beguiling, and slyly humorous, illustrations by Anthony Bacon Venti, we see the explorers as human beings, exceptional ones, yes, in context with their unveiling of the new world(s), but not glorified so that their arrogance is disguised as virtue, for the sake of religion or other idealism.  The little book, quickly read, refreshed the sense of wonder and adventure that is so alluring . . . casting off to sea into the unknown.
  It brought back the feeling that I was trying to capture when I did "The World When I Was 5", which was gifted to Union-Sanborn Elementary School, Northfield, NH, for the 50th Birthday of Suzan Gannett, Principal in honor of all the children who "set sail" towards a life of adventure from our beloved school.  It is approximately 16" Circular, with glass attachments.

In the mid-90's I was asked to mend a broken window, with a few missing panels . . .

It was an antique British Window for a Dining room, in a home in Somersworth, NH . . .

Then, the lovely lady asked me to do a transom leading from the kitchen to the Dining room:

And, yes, the restoration of some panels for the kitchen . . .

Then, there was the small bathroom, next to the kitchen, which would look so nice with a transom and some window treatments, so could I design and make some there, too?

And, why not a window from the Dining Room, over the arch leading to the front porch?

Then, finally, the new sunroom at the rear of the house, how about a design for it?

The Prince Who Got taken away by the Spring Salmon (1995)

"Each species of salmon has its own chief and village beneath the sea. Each year their chief, a bear on land, greets them, as they come to spawn, then after the ritual birth rites, returns to the watery homeland, a fish once again."  This work was inspired by a Tsimshian "Button Blanket" which I saw in an exhibit of Native art from the area surrounding the Bering Sea, both North America and Asia,  called Crossroads of the Continents, in 1989.  Every time I see a photo of this work, I find myself charmed by it, and a smile, like the one on the bear, shines on my face and in my heart.  It has found a new home, returning to the area of its spawning grounds,  in the owners vacation cabin in Idaho.