22nd – 28th April 2015
Lois Parker
- Glass is beautiful and seductive. Altering constantly as the light changes. This makes viewing a piece more like watching a performance than a static object.
- There are many ways to use glass in art, and learning these different processes could fill a lifetime. I currently work predominately with glass which I fuse in a kiln. The challenge of realising an artistic vision in a medium that has precise temperature/time needs in its creation creates suspense, elation and sometimes disappointment or shock as the process develops.
- I find the waiting period where nothing can be done useful. I am a temperamentally hasty person, and fiddling or changing things, removing items, adding just a touch of something, can be a problem with other media for me. With the glass in the kiln there is an enforced period of inactivity or at least non-tinkering that is beneficial. This pause means I can gain distance from the active phases of making.
- Another advantage of working with glass, even though it is heavy, sharp, expensive and can shatter if annealed poorly, is that working with it requires many different actions. I have several chronic health problems which mean many activities are impossible or very limited for me. Much of my work over the last year has been made one handed as I have had two surgical operations on one wrist. With a little help from friends on some more physical activities, such as opening new jars of glass frit and changing kiln shelves, I have been able to continue to work.
- I am on a journey to discover what I can do well in glass and how I want to work. This exhibition shows the last year of my work in this medium.
- www.loisparkerglass.com
Open daily 10am-5pm
Entry Free
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