Glass, my love

The New Mexico residency is alive and well and living in my workshop, a riot of the colors of the land and its spirit.

On most mornings during the time at Ghost Ranch, we hiked the myriad trails that offer wildly divergent scenes. A sylvan path leading to a shimmering lake that reflected the hues of reeds, bushes, trees and stone that surrounded like a parfait of grace. A steep hike open to layers of sediment forming rocks and crevices and jagged mountains of red orange. 

The goals of the residency creators, Steve Klein and Richard Parrish, were to create an atmosphere that would inspire us in turn to create "abstractions of place" -- after Ghost Ranch, we went to a Bullseye Glass Resource Center in Santa Fe for several days to set up glass experiments that were born of our time at Ghost Ranch. Mine were simple and straightforward. I felt a sense of glee, just thinking about this place, and my fellow residents, one of whom one year later has become my close compadre.

Now the work is emerging, and is a stark change from the iceberg-inspired glass with its cool frozen hues. It feels good to embrace warm hues, study the interaction of sky and land.

I am feeling that glee again, almost a year after the residency. Lucky me.