EVENT HORIZON
COBALT BLUE
1′-8″ H, 1′-6″ W, 8″ Dia.
COLLECTED
Event Horizon, circular cast glass
Yes, Event Horizon, circular cast glass sculpture, is vertical, but it certainly did not start out that way! This piece is a result of a very different idea that did not produce the desired effect.
Harley inspired
I ride a Harley motorcycle. One day I was hanging around the local shop and spotted a neat accessory – an attachment for the face of a carburetor .3″ diameter x 3″ tall, in high polished chrome with concave sides that tapered to a sharp point. I thought about a glass sculpture lying flat with a hole in the center and envisioned pointing a high-powered halogen spotlight at it from above – allowing the chrome accessory to act as a mirror and illuminate it from the interior. So Event Horizon was conceived.
18″ in diameter x 8″ thick. It was a fun project in that it was my first glass sculpture that was “design as you go.” No layout lines in advance, just start working and see what happens. Near completion of the rough sculpture, I was testing out the light and just wasn’t getting the effect I hoped for. Couldn’t make it work.
With the wax completed, I showed it to Gaye. Her first impression? “I can’t see it. I can’t see inside.” Now I am 6’1″ tall, Gaye 5’3″. So we kind of argued. “This is how it was designed to be displayed,” I said. Underneath that protest was the fact that this was a “done” piece that was really only one-sided. For it to stand up vertically, I would have to sculpt the back side and then figure out a way to make it stand.
With that, our neighbor Jackie dropped in and, well, the rest is history. She is also Gaye’s height and she agreed. Actually, Jackie got up on her tippy toes in order to see inside, which was exactly what Gaye had done. Overruled, I spent two more weeks re-sculpting the piece and designing a base for it.
Ya know, sometimes things don’t work out as planned and sometimes you just have to admit that things can be better – regardless of the personal cost. Gaye and Jackie were absolutely right, and the piece is better than it would have been.
