I like visual puns and the idea of a blindfolded skeleton juggling weapons became the theme for this window. I painted the skeleton and weapons, the blindfold and border are salvaged pieces of glass. The background piece is an old sheet of glass I discovered stuffed away in the corner of an old stained glass studio. It was covered with so much dust that it was completely brown. The Juggler- 2009
I’m off and running on the second big window. I’m posting a black and white image for now to keep the color of the window a surprise. I’ll post a color image when done hopefully by the weekend.
Once I get the Galaxy-maker soldered and out of the way (I’ll post a picture when framed) I’ll be off and running on this window. This piece of Fischer handblown glass will be the background. It’s a special piece of glass that’s not amounting to much stashed away in my workspace. It will be another big window on my quest to build 4 by end of May.
All the pieces are foiled and ready to solder. Trying to psych myself up for 8 hours of it (front and back).
The background glass is a piece of Linds (sp?). It has a mind of its own when you attempt to score and cut it. Made it through with only a couple of unplanned breaks and I was able to tweak the design to cover it up.
As for traditional stained glass artists one of my biggest favorites is the Irish illustrator Harry Clarke, born in 1889. Most known for his haunting black and white illustrations for Tales by Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, his stained glass windows were without peer. Unfortunately his stunning contributions to art, literature and stained glass were cut short by tuberculosis at the young age of 41.
My instructor probably didn’t like it but I took one of his portrait exercises, matted it brown after the first black trace firing and scrubbed the skeletal image out of it. Is "you have a sick mind, Mr. Lizama" a compliment?
Another Antrim School painting exercise. 4 paint applications, 3 firings including a touch of Silverstain.
I wonder if the toy designers of the Micronaut Phobos that stands next to my computer were equally inspired by katsinas?
I was cleaning a bunch of painted scrap glass and as I was laying the pieces on my light table they began to resemble the night lights of a bustling city, Ginza district, Times Square. I was inspired to paint a ghost-like katsina, an ancient being passing easily in and out of the modern world. Big City Katsina-2008
My interpretation of the Fire God. Unfortunately not a great photo. There is a blue irridized cast-glass face in the upper circle and the border glass was brand new at the time, a sheet called Indian Corn found by my wife at a stained glass store in Grand Rapids, MN. The Fire God-2006
This is Sulawitsi or "Fire God", one of several katsinas adapted from the Zuni. I bought it directly from the artist during Hopi week at the University of Northern Arizona Museum. After that trip I built my first katsina window.
In Hopi and Pueblo cultures Katsinas are powerful beings that can represent anything from a revered ancestor, to an element, a location, a quality, a natural phenomenon, or a concept. They interest me because they look so otherworldly, a kind of natural sci-fi being.
The Galaxy-maker. I’m using glass at hand and dipping heavily into my box of choice little glass pieces. I hope to build 3 to 4 large windows (approx. 20 x 30 inches unframed) by end of May to hang in June at the Dunn Bros. on Lake and Bryant.
This big window took shape when I found a sheet of maple Linds glass and a sheet of Oceana. Perfect octopus stuff. The head and torso is black opaque glass with Hawaiian petroglyphs etched into it. The octopus’ eye is a glass replica of a Dall Sheep and the border pattern is in homage to the Northwest Coast button blankets. King of the Sea-2004
