LEVITATION
LIME GREEN
11″ H, 1′-9″ W, 12″ Dia.
COLLECTED
My first horizontal work
Levitation was my first horizontal work. I followed (loosely) a version of my ribbon work from my sculpting days in wood.Born from an ice storm!
When the sculpture in wax was nearly finished, friends of collectors who acquired Canyon Song stopped by the studio. They fell in love with the horizontal wax form and wanted to add it (finished, of course) to their most impressive glass collection. It was to be the centerpiece on their dining room table. She chose the color and it was off to the foundry.
During casting, a major ice storm hit our area and there were two lengthy power outages while the piece was in the kiln – once during melt-in and the second during annealing. Both times, the kiln had to be brought back up to “temperature” and then slowly ramped down. The unfortunate result was that the piece cracked in two places. After long study, I deliberately cut the work in two and then re-sculpted the glass – also known as cold working.
This is when you earn your keep as an artist – making lime aide out of damaged limes. The outcome? The collectors loved the piece even more, and today it graces the center of their dining room table. With all that was involved, I felt like such a drama queen, but then this is definitely risky business! However, this adventure has given me ideas for multiple-piece installations.
