Process: The Hermit Way

At the intersection of chemistry and creativity is wonder.

Today I make almost all the glass I use from scratch. Sand, soda ash, lime, potash, etc. It is wonderful not to be dependent on the formulas concocted by others. I embraced this freedom to shift from the tradition glass used by almost all US based artists and opened up an entirely unique color-palette. Best decision I ever made. 

I've taken this a step further to explore the nature of "reactive" glass chemistry. Colors that don't just passively "paint" the glass, they interact to tell a story of an underlying chemistry trapped forever inside the crystal lattice. This is, to me, the difference between portraiture and cubism...an attempt to capture a snapshot of more than one reality. Like the cracks in rocks that tell a violent story millions of years old. 

 

These colors did not exist before I made them. That means a lot to me. "New" in glass is uncommon. How can I be unique when more talented artists than I have been working with glass for 3000 years? Daunting. I'm just starting to explore everything that this chemistry is waiting to show me. I'm very happy to share the results and hope they capture your imagination and attention for a moment.