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How It Was Made--Consider the Flowers #1

3/5/2014

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There are 3 separate pieces in this series, each using the same motif but different techniques, styles and materials.

With this one I first collaged the board with sewing patterns and other brown papers.

The flower petals are worked in sheet music covered with tissue paper. The leaves are book pages covered in tissue paper. 

The "halo" around the flower is gold leaf over the base collage. 

The stem is worked in architectural clear glass backed with copper leaf. 

The vertical stripes that break up the background are some computer components I collected along the way.

The leaves and flower petals are mosaiced in clear window glass. The background in tempered glass.

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The grout is a yellow/tan color.

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How It Was Made--Blue Serenade

3/4/2014

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I started with a 9" x 14" piece of 1/4" thick hardboard. For the base layer I collaged blue tissue paper. Then I added strips of other blue paper. Some are solid, some are altered papers from National Geographic Magazine, and some are foiled.

I found a large piece of fused glass that came from somewhere in my collection and knew I wanted to add this as well.

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For the mosaic layer I worked in some blue Slivercoat (a clear blue glass with a mirror backing) and strips of clear glass. The background was then finished with a random pattern worked in tempered glass. 

The name of the piece reflects the interplay of rhythm between the collage layer and the glass layer. I decided it needed a musical title.

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Grey grout finished the work.

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How it's made--Detritus: Black, Red, White

3/3/2014

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I started with a board which had been painted black and a bunch of elements that had made their way into my studio. Ribbons, the top to a container of creamer, bag ties, twist ties, a rubber band, a fruit bag, plastic-coated wire, a coupon from the grocery store, and a piece of crochet work. These elements got assembled and attached to the board. 

Then it sat for a couple weeks while I waited until it told me what more it wanted. There are times when you just need to do that with a piece.

A few additional items were added--some plastic tubes I collected from a construction project and a fused glass piece.

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Additional components continued to find their way onto the piece. These included elements collected from inside audio cassette tapes and a plastic ring that came with a bag of pasta.

And since this is my work, there needed to be a portion that got mosaiced. So I worked tempered glass onto part of the coupon.

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I've been playing with a process that creates a thick, epoxy-like surface on a work. I wanted to do that here to help seal the elements from degradation. This photo shows that product in the state of drying clear.  

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Black grout completes the mosaiced portion of the work.
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Thoughts on Creativity

3/7/2009

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A while back I listened to the book "Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy" by Jostein Gaardner (translated by Paulette Moller). There was one point in the excellent book that I needed to actually read, so I put the book on hold at my library and finally got it last week and found the passage. With your indulgence I'd like to quote it here. 



"Perhaps there is an element of the unconscious in every creative process, for what do we actually mean by creativity?" [asked Alberto Knox].

"I've no idea" [Sophie replied]. "Isn't it when you create something?"

"Fair enough, and that happens in a delicate interplay between imagination and reason. But all too frequently, reason throttles the imagination, and that's serious because without imagination, nothing really new will ever be created. I believe imagination is like a Darwinian system."

"I'm sorry, but that I didn't get."

"Well, Darwinism holds that nature's mutants arise one after the other, but only a few of them can be used. Only some of them get the right to live."

"So?"

"That's how it is when we have an inspiration and get masses of new ideas. Thought-mutants occur in the consciousness one after the other, at least if we refrain from censoring ourselves too much. But only some of these thoughts can be used. Here, reason comes into its own. It, too, has a vital function. When the day's catch is laid on the table we must not forget to be selective."

"That's not a bad comparison."

"Imagine if everything that 'strikes us' were allowed to pass our lips! Not to speak of jumping off our notepads out of our desk drawers! The world would sink under the weight of casual impulses and no selection would have taken place."

"So it's reason that chooses between all these ideas?"

"Yes, don't you think so? Maybe the imagination creates what is new, but the imagination does not make the actual selection. The imagination does not make the actual selection. The imagination does not 'compose.' A composition—and every work of art is one—is created in a wonderful interplay between imagination and reason, between mind and reflection. For there will always be an element of chance in the creative process. You have to turn the sheep loose before you can start to herd them."

 

I really like that last line. Thanks for your indulgence. Read "Sophie's World." It's a very interesting treatise on philosophy, and a really good read.

 

Please note that I do not have permission to quote this work and am not receiving any remuneration in its use.



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    Juanita Canzoneri

    In no particular order, I am a wife; an artist working in glass, collage, paint, mosaics, fiber, plastic, and/or computer; an avid reader; an oldest child; president and member of an artists co-op; a former editor and grammar freak; teacher; friend; singer; and/or all-around know-it-all. 

    I currently reside in Colorado Springs, CO and have a great view of Pikes Peak from my front yard. My studio is just off the kitchen, two steps from the washer/dryer, just this side of the garage.

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