Tiny Fists of Justice

In the words of my client,

“I’ve been dreaming of activist/labor movement art for a while. Thinking about what words, texts, & symbols are powerful and meaningful - not just for me, but for the overall movement.  The basis is my favorite labor law- where most workers rights come from. But also the raised fist is powerful and features on a lot of labor posters and art.  It has a feel of rebellion and strength”

Each fist is comprised of three kinds of glass. It was my vision to create a deconstructed stained glass window. Each fist incorporates a brass rod into its design for a clean 360 view.

Go Go Godzilla!

Fun facts about the window:
51”x23”; 524 pieces; 26 colors of glass

Honorable mentions in glass:

Wissmach Figure C green scales- broke 3x in shipping but i was able to cobble together enough for his glittering scaley skin

Yougiogheny skin color - was the single most expensive glass i’ve ever purchased. EVER

Wissmach lumine was perfect atomic blue for his scales.

Mothra’s amber “globs” and the black and white baroque glass in her wings both came from my father’s glass stash; also from dad is some of the pagoda glass

Lots of beautiful iridescent glass in his fire breath and the yellow of the buildings 

I’ve had a life long love of godzilla. The look and feel is based on old movie posters, memories of watching Godzilla movies with my dad, and my time living in Japan. This project was years in the planning and easily 8 months in execution. Thanks go to the framing department for finding the window, restoring the finish, insane custom fitting and chiseling in of each panel, ingenious mounting solution, and extreme patience with me through this whole process. 

Now we get to sit in our dining room under his dead watchful eyes!

A small set of reposition-able items are coming soon because he obviously needs things to crush!

Idle Hands

Some background on the Idle Hands series.

In the last three and a half years I've had an unthinkable amount of loss. I think about hands ALOT. Violet's paws that could dig to sweet freedom outside the yard or could sit outstretched in front of her, dainty and proud- touching my leg while she snuggled me. Pandora’s hands (paws) that could bat glass bowls from the table and make dough balls on my shoulder as she lay wrapped around my neck purring. Mom’s hands that anguished and rubbed themselves raw but also flew like a zephyr over her knitting needles. In her last days she held mine all the time and told me I had golden hands. And Dads hands. Dads hands that built chicken coops and delicate glass things. Dads hands that gripped his walker and his knife and fork with equal determination. Dads hands that held mine in his last breath.

Idle Hands each hold something I need or that I’m trying to regain. The sacred heart eye is for hope; the anatomical heart is for strength in my body with the forget me not for strength in my brain; the Luna moth is for transformation as I know we aren’t built to live in unyielding grief; the bee is a token of love for my friends who repeatedly save my sanity; the love letter is to myself as a reminder that I’m worth my place here; and the Love Birds is for Dave, for making a point everyday to remind me that I’m loved.

This isn’t meant to be a bummer post. I’m grateful every day that I can move my body and have people to love. I’m grateful I am able to give myself the space to say yes to some projects because they give me an opportunity to grow or connect and say yes to my own projects because cutting glass saves my life. Over and over again. Still working on asking for help, but it’s something and some days that’s enough.

XO

Mt. Ranier: a physical meditation

Mt. Rainier is made of 242 individual pieces.The glass itself measure 20 inches square and 25 inches square with its frame.  It contains 16 different colors of glass including waterglass, artique, wispy, cathedral, quarter reed, seedy, raindrop, iridized, and opalescent and mystic. The later two types of glass are the foundational colors in its companion pieces: Spider Mum and Taurus. Another “special feature” of this window is that the constellation Gemini is embedded in the lead lines of the background blue glass. It is used in its proper orientation to the left of the mountain and flipped to mirror itself on the right hand side.

The look and feel of this piece is based on vintage National Park postcards interpreted with a very a modern graphic use of color and form.

Family of windows

thanks While I have never been to Mt. Rainier - I have traveled to many open places.  

Vistas like Mt. Rainier are too vast to photograph.  They are a feeling that the body remembers.  The composition of this glass is very intentional.  There needed to be weight at the bottom - down on the ground- so that as you rise through the space you can untether.  

Take off your shoes, dig your fingers into the cool, damp moss of the foothills.  Let the icy water wash over your toes.  Your eye is traveling up to the tree line.  The trees move in and out of dappled sun and shade.  Breathe in as your face turns upwards - eyes moving through the pines, your shoulders sink down to their neutral place.  

Eyes continue their trajectory into the white.  All the whites with their textures and temperatures.  Ice and snow, glittering sunshine on the edges.  Eyes keep moving up- breathing is easier - until they meet the blue - and that is a revelation. Your body sinks back onto the soft moss- hair tangling with the grasses - your body remembers this place.  Sink down. You can’t confine this with a photo.   

You can only capture this as you breathe. 

Koi Lollipop

New only @four_monkeys_coffee …

I’m so excited to share this collaboration with @hatch_plants In celebration of Pisces’ easy going & effortlessly adaptive nature, we paired Koi Fish Lollipops with the equally easy going & adaptable Snake Plant.

The perfect gift for the Pieces in your life ♓️
🌱

Everything I make has a personal connection and this is no different. My mom was a Pisces and we loved to sit with her & watch the koi where she lived. I think she’d approve. The energy of life begins in the ocean, in the end it calls us back.

(Side note: all of these plants are bursting with life & their planters are simple & meticulously crafted- it’s such a joy to work with this amazing woman on this set!)

Koi are copper foiled stained glass with some fancy wire and solder work, affixed to a copper rod. approximately 4x6”