Festival Artists' Profile: They Go to Pieces Over Glass
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Published on Sunday, 15 March 2009 19:06
It all started one summer when Peggy Kirkpatrick went off to Venice and Marion Haley stayed at home and took her first art course in fused glass at the Art League of Bonita Springs. "When Peggy returned, I told her, you've got to see what's happening in this course!" Marion remembers.
"We got hooked on glass," says Peggy. Eventually Marion and Peggy named themselves "The Glassy Ladies," and turned energetically to working with the translucent or opaque art glass they get from Portland, Oregon. "It has to be baked at 1500 degrees," Peggy explains, "and then we slump it into a form. We shape it into bowls and trays, even little boxes. We've made butterflies and dragonflies too."
Marion comes from Rochester, where she raised six children. But she was always drawn to artwork, and eventually turned to stone-sculpting. Peggy comes from Long Island, where she raised four children and taught in elementary school. When her kids were big, she went back to school at Adelphi, "which amused them," she says. There she received her M.A. in art history and studio art, and earned a second teacher certification in art.
This is the second year The Glassy Ladies will exhibit at the Festival of the Arts, and both of them look forward to seeing sculptor Marton Varo give demonstrations in connection with the bas-relief he's making for the Oratory. After all, Marion points out, the stone sculpting that drew her and Peggy together is what they primarily do. But both find glass fun to turn to, especially when the hot Florida summers make working outside on stone difficult. "And stone takes long to do - you do one, maybe two pieces a year," she says. "With glass you can do even a piece a day," although it takes several days to dry in the kiln.
Peggy adds that one of her goals is blending fused glass with stone sculpture. "With glass, there are no limits to what can be done," she says. "There's always a surprise when it comes out. And you like the surprise."
It all started one summer when Peggy Kirkpatrick went off to Venice and Marion Haley stayed at home and took her first art course in fused glass at the Art League of Bonita Springs. "When Peggy returned, I told her, you've got to see what's happening in this course!" Marion remembers.
Marion comes from Rochester, where she raised six children. But she was always drawn to artwork, and eventually turned to stone-sculpting. Peggy comes from Long Island, where she raised four children and taught in elementary school. When her kids were big, she went back to school at Adelphi, "which amused them," she says. There she received her M.A. in art history and studio art, and earned a second teacher certification in art.
sculptor Marton Varo give demonstrations in connection with the bas-relief he's making for the Oratory. After all, Marion points out, the stone sculpting that drew her and Peggy together is what they primarily do. But both find glass fun to turn to, especially when the hot Florida summers make working outside on stone difficult. "And stone takes long to do - you do one, maybe two pieces a year," she says. "With glass you can do even a piece a day," although it takes several days to dry in the kiln.
Peggy adds that one of her goals is blending fused glass with stone sculpture. "With glass, there are no limits to what can be done," she says. "There's always a surprise when it comes out. And you like the surprise."