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Seekers® Glass Gallery presents the work of
Charles Donaldson, who creates a series of original designs in slumped and
reverse painted glass.
In Charles’s words: "While traveling the
continents of the world conducting field studies of various culture’s art and
crafts, I had the opportunity to experience the beauty of the earth’s
picturesque seas. These experiences turned my focus from painting and designing
on canvas to kiln-formed, painted and hand manipulated glass art."
Glass fusing and glass slumping are popular
terms for the kiln-forming of glass objects. Fusing and slumping of glass was
known to the Egyptians and Persians around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago – at least
2,000 years before the advent of glassblowing by the Romans in the first century
AD.
The artist begins each piece by hand cutting
elements from high quality sheet glass, then placing them over handmade molds.
After he has cut and arranged the glass elements in a single sheet or the layers
that will melt and form his preconceived design, the artist places the glass in
the kiln. The glass to be fused or slumped is placed on forms the artist has
made from iron, ceramic, kiln-wool and other materials that will withstand the
high temperature of approximately 1400 degrees Fahrenheit
After cooling, the fused glass is sometimes
fired more than once, depending on the design. Rough edges are painstakingly
belt-polished to a smooth, shiny finish when the piece has cooled.
Long known and practiced in the Orient, reverse
painting enjoyed its greatest popularity in America during the early 1800s. This
unusual art form requires the artist to paint the design on one side of the
glass while it will be viewed from the other. Because of this, scenes which are
not symmetrical must be painted in mirror image so that when the glass is turned
over those objects placed on the right side will be entered first with
successive steps entering those things which appear further back.
Today, professional glass artists who engage in
this ancient artform use permanent materials that are fired onto the glass
surface of the glass. The artist uses a slumped glass "blank," rather
than one that is blown, because it provides a smoother surface.
The artist begins by painting the back of the
glass "blank" in reverse, beginning with the foreground rather than
the background. This glass enamel paint medium partially burns
away during firing in a low-temperature kiln, at temperatures of about
1000°-1300° Fahrenheit. Often, the artist must fire the piece numerous times
in order to fuse the different colors and layers of an elaborately enameled,
reverse-glass painted object.
Charles’s work includes permanent
installations at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, The Congressional Country
Club, and the Victor Valley Museum in
California. His work has also been shown at museums worldwide.
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