Coldiron Glass Design's Profile
Bio
I have been always been fascinated by glass since I was a child and watched my grandmother collect interesting but affordable glass and ceramics. I create contemporary kiln-cast glass sculpture from recycled glass and work with this material because I feel that I am creating a balance in the environment. I am taking something out of the environment, a discarded material (a negative) and returning it back to the environment as a positive and a sense of balance is achieved.
A lot of glass artists do not work with recycled glass since it can be literally like trying to shape a stone and have it flow into a specific design. Glass for consumer use is made to stiffen up and take final shape quickly in the manufacturing process so that explains why it is so difficult with which to work. A lot of glass bottles and sheet glass also are not compatible kiln wise with each other so a lot of pretesting must be done.
I enjoy the idea of being involved in an emerging art medium where most glass artists still say "don't waste your time with recycled glass, it is a pain, so unpredictable", etc. I take that as a personal challenge to continue to explore and push the unusual sculptural properties and “green” message of this material. Incalculable unknowns exist with each piece of recycled glass and I have had to invent new techniques and processes based on many hours of experimentation in order to work with this material and bring my vision into final form.
I use a controlled divitrification process to bring a quartz or stone like look to my sculpture and I believe this represents a new type of glass. Divitrification has typically been viewed as a negative effect in fusible art glass but I believe it is an important tool in expanding the limited perception of what glass "should look like."
My work is in numerous public and private collections including the Art Museum at the Universty of Kentucky. I also received an Arlington Couty artist grant in 2009 for a recycled glass sculpture installation in a park.
My first book on "Glass and Design in Recycled Glass" will be published by Schiffer Books this fall.
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April 7, 2011
Interesting twist with the round copper vs. the many recycled glass beads that are out there now. Would love to use the photo in a future blog post on recycled glass and design. See http://myartgrant.blogspot.com Thanks. Cindy