Monday Magazine Visits the Piers Island Studio

It was a delightful surprise to receive a call from Laura Lavin at Monday Magazine asking if I would be willing to do an interview on my glass work and have her visit the studio.  YES, would be the answer to that and then the explaining how to get to Piers Island.

The day was beautiful, the seas were calm and Laura made me feel right at home, oh wait, I was home! Being interviewed about your art is well, a bit scary actually.  I don't know why, but suddenly you are trying to explain the why of it and a lot of the time it's an "I don't know"- where do the ideas come from...  The wonderful thing about the interview with Laura was that from my responses to her questions she noticed that I referred often to experimenting and how much I seemed to enjoy that part of the work. Remembering the joy of the experiments (thank you Laura) sent me into the studio a few days later to begin anew and I am thrilled with my newest piece "Siku" (sea ice in Inuit).  It shimmers and reflects in iridescent rainbows, an ever changing sculpture.   Look for Siku at Muse Winery for the North Saanich Flavour Trail on August 24th & 25th.

Click on Monday Magazine if you'd like to see the video they put together as well as the online article.

Garden Glass to Butchart Gardens

I'm very pleased to announce that you'll find all 4 of my garden glass sculpture pieces at Butchart Gardens in the Gallery, or around the Gallery - inside, outside, I'm not sure, but as you can imagine...I have the greatest faith in their placement!

Butchart Gardens is located at 800 Benvenuto Ave. in Brentwood Bay, BC and I've included a little bit from their website and a link as well for their Flower & Foliage Report.

Maya & Tranquility on Piers

"Benvenuto!

Welcome to The Butchart Gardens. To answer an often asked question it is pronounced "Butch-art" Gardens.
Flower & Foliage Report - a list of what's of special interest right now.

Benvenuto, Italian for 'welcome', is the name the Butcharts used for their original estate, now a National Historic Site of Canada, and still privately owned by family descendants. The Butchart Gardens offers 22ha (55 acres) of wonderful floral display located in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island. The family's commitment to horticulture and hospitality continues to this day."

I hope you'll be visiting Butchart Gardens soon and have a look for my Garden Glass there.  

Every garden needs glass! :)

Recycled Glass

Beauty & Function from Scrap

Falling Petals- 3 piece set $75

I've always liked the idea of being able to save and reuse something and keep things out of the landfill.  As a fused glass artist, we have to be so careful with compatibility and co-effiencies that taking old glass from anywhere is not an option. 

Many years ago we replaced old windows and sliding glass doors in the original cabin on Piers Island and saved the glass, for well, who knows what... the cabin was built in 1960 or so, so the glass is well over 50 years old.  Finally, in an effort to clean up, I cut the glass into bite size chunks.  After a few more years, I couldn't stand the idea of just throwing the pieces out, so again I cut them into sizes I thought would be functional.  Using kiln carving techniques I've been able to add a little flare to these pieces while slumping them into shapes.  The beauty of simply slumping the glass is that it is dishwasher safe as they are no bubbles trapped, as might be with a fuse.  Because of the age of the glass, the firing has left the pieces with a bit of a frosted beach glass look.  Perhaps sea salt imbedded over the years! :)

Each set is one of a kind and I'll post them in blogs or tweet when I have a new set ready.  Serving plates are approximately 14 inches x 6 inches, the bowls are 4 x 4 to 5 x 5 inches.
They are funky, functional and fun!

Kanji - 3 piece set - $75

Nautilus - 5 piece set - $100



These newest pieces are available at the Piers Island Studio or at my Etsy Store.
www.paulineolesen.com