Mandala Musing by Jaye Houle

Wall Piece

Vitreous enamel, copper, mason stains, wood base

Crowquill pen, painting, sgrafitto

6 x 6 inches

I have happily taken to enamels after working with other forms of glass art most of my adult life. I am currently enamored of building a piece up from small variants of a single form – a mosaic of pieces that are interesting on their own, yet somehow add up to a more satisfying whole. I am inspired by both the maps encountered in my work as a geographer, and the biological forms that I love discovering. I am an intuitive artist, well suited to a medium where I can rapidly go from idea, through craft to the visual product in a short amount of time. Enamels are like play, where I can change my goals and the route I take to suit my mood. I have always loved the look of glass and the myriad techniques one can use and the forms that glass can take. I started working with stained glass, where creativity lies in the planning, but what follows is pure craft, with little opportunity to change the outcome in response to the form being built. My desire to spread the creative process over the entire process of crafting, prompted me to try fused and cast glass where I could add surface treatments, layering and addition of other elements such as felt. My current work building larger pieces from small enamels is just the latest step in this blending of creativity and craft.