December 2009
Brilliance of Glass
Our Holiday Glass Show reflects the sparkle of the season, featuring works by Evie Ault, Steven Cornett, Mike Korpa and Patricia Wessman. See this dazzling display of hand-blown glass and fused glass creations, each characterized by the individual artist’s unique style and process. Evie Ault shows her vibrant fused glass pieces, in the forms of plates, puzzles, table tops and “tablescapes.” Steven Cornett exhibits some elegant new bowls and vases that would enhance any holiday table. Mike Korpa displays his incredible multi-layered fused glass murals, and Patricia Wessman returns with a lively and eclectic collection of fused glass plates, platters, trays, and hanging glass art.
Mike Korpa, Autumn Morning
For fused glass artist, Mike Korpa, the world has always been about the dynamic interplay of color and light as it is revealed in nature. The lively exchange of these elements inspires his work by evoking a powerful emotion, a memory, or a mood. As a youngster he tried to capture this awareness in his primitive artwork. Today, a skilled glass artist, this energy and the realms of nature and wildlife continue to be the source of his inspiration.
Mike Korpa first began working with stained glass in 1982, creating windows with landscapes. He began to feel, however, that the pallet and soldered joints of stained glass were too limiting. With the development of fusible or “hot glass”, new creative possibilities opened up for him. He found that fusible glass could be blown, kiln-casted or lampworked (formed with a torch), and that colors could now be layered and subtle shadings could be achieved.
Evie Ault, Tablescape
Evie Ault discovered the colorful world of glass fusing after experimenting with other art venues. She is primarily a self taught glass artist supplementing her knowledge of glass through various workshops, and classes at Pilchuck and Corning Glass.
Fused Glass is the process by which one layers up various pieces of glass - colored or clear- fires (fuses) it in a kiln to temperatures that could reach 1500 degrees.
Each piece of fused glass art can take up to 60 hours to create as a result of meticulously cutting sometimes a hundred or more individual pieces of glass and typically two or three firings, each taking 12-16 hours.
Evie begins her glass fusing process by cutting strips of glass to fashion a pattern bar that will be fused and cut in sections. She also cuts glass strips to be used to form a new patterned sheet of glass. After fusing, the sheet glass is cut into pieces again to be incorporated in the design of her art. “Thus begins the most exciting part of glass fusing – taking all the variety of glass pieces and designing a final product.”
Steven Cornett, lamp
Steven Cornett has been working with glass since 1989, when he took his first glassblowing class with Kent Ipsen, a man known for his life-sized lead crystal castings.
“From the moment I first saw glass being blown, I was mesmerized by its molten glow. The process drew me in, igniting what has become a twenty year passion for glass. I have always been fascinated by the life that each piece exudes when it is aglow, and have long tried to capture that essence.”
Patricia Wessman, Tres Sabores Platter
Patricia Wessman has “always been captivated by patterns and structures in nature. I once saw a mural that depicted the microscopic and the cosmic showing their similar structures and I loved it.”
Color is her other love. Having worked for almost 30 years in clay and glazes she has learned to see the color in her head, because what one sees in the raw liquid glaze is not what one gets in the finished piece. Her fused glass plates, platters, and glass paintings express her love of color, “melting together to form new yummy treats.”
“I let my imagination fly within a structure of color theme or subject reference. I am heavily influenced in my glass work by artists I have long admired---Paul Klee, Miro, Kandinski.”