Beacon for Brian

The Beacon for Brian is the final piece of a research project over several months...

They media tends to portray the world as a hellish, awful place.  For this reason I chucked my TV in the bin and I stopped buying newspapers. Instead, every day I find something beautiful to focus on - puffy clouds or rainbows or wee frogs..anything really that doesn't solicit a negative emotional response - and I've never been happier in all my life. I can even say that the pains in my bones are now manageable since doing this ?? 

I wanted to see if I could take someone else on this journey of joy and, through a series of sketchbooks and walks in the beautiful outdoors with a person who needed to see the world with fresh eyes, I created the embodiment of this beauty in kiln glass. These are mounted in an old copper lantern with a handle. This part is equally as important as the Lantern can be passed to someone else. They can hold the beauty - and possibility- in their hands. It's giving them the choice of how to see the world.

As a result of this project, the person I created it for has now risen from a lifetime of chronic hopeless depression. He has never been happier, and it all started with a simple step..turning off the TV.

• Glass copper