January 2021 – Glass & Lead

Warmth

health pendants

1″ x1″, glass

It’s snowing outside, and the forecast for tomorrow is for windchills that bring the temperature below 10 degrees. I can’t really think about much other than how to stay warm, so when I sat down with the beautiful dichroic glass scrap that I finally got around to ordering, I gravitated, perhaps for the first time, to the warmer colors. I can’t wait to fuse some of it into bits and pieces that will find their way into pendants for another week. And running the kiln for 16 hours will keep the studio nice and toasty!

Echoes

announcements

1″ diameter, found objects

There’s a lot of good news this week, and on top of everything happening politically, I got some good health news. There was a chance that I might have a bicuspid aortic valve, but no, mine is tricuspid, which should last longer and be stronger. I was able to watch fuzzy images on the echocardiogram while they explored, but I didn’t know what it all was. In this pendant I used a ceramic tile with crystal glaze to make the shape of a valve, and wire that came from inside some dis-assembled electronics to represent blood flowing smoothly.

Indictment

health pendants

1″ diameter, coin

I was living in Chile in 1998, when this coin was minted. That was the year that Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s dictator for many years, was indicted in London for the crimes that he committed while in power. His arrest opened old wounds and old debates among my Chilean friends, and I learned a lot about the far-reaching and long-lasting effects of abuse of power, and I was not surprised but was still horrified by the United States’ role in the military coup so far from our soil. Despite being divisive, the arrest provided some closure and public censure. I’m watching events unfold here in the US in 2021 and am pleased to see a swift impeachment, but wonder what all of the long-lasting ripples of this presidency will be.

Alignment

health pendants

1″ x 2″, glass, stone, metal

If there’s one thing that last night’s attempted coup reinforces, it’s that the people in
this country are not aligned. Philosophically, politically, ethically, there’s not just disagreement, but a much more deeply-rooted difference in perspectives and beliefs that make it hard to see across the divides. This pendant is one that I’ve been working on for weeks, bit by bit. I found the ring and chose an off-center spot for it. I filled it in with stones, and then I cut the thinnest of the filati that I’d pulled into short lengths. I lined some of them up with each other and let the others head in different directions. In the end, the blue filati look like cloth, woven of tiny strands, strengthened by having pieces facing in each direction. I hope that despite our differences in perspective, we can all come together to align at least some of our actions and to keep the fabric of the community strong.