Day 5 of the Facebook challenge: Thanks to Randy L. Purcell (http://www.randylpurcell.com) for giving me the opportunity to reflect on my practice through this process of self-curating.
Together these pieces represent: 1) my progress toward a more holistic treatment of my primary creative materials, 2) my love of the ocean and beach and, 3) my concern over the ongoing struggle to provide clean water to all of earth’s citizens. Water covers nearly 3/4’s of the Earth’s surface yet access to clean drinking water eludes millions of human beings.
The physical properties of water and glass share some similarities. A liquid at room temperature water becomes solid when frozen, and vaporizes when heated, rising to the sky to return to us again as a liquid. Glass also changes according to degrees: at lower temperatures it presents as a solid but becomes viscous when exposed to extreme heat. In addition, sand is one of the main components of glass.
“Low Tide” contains both sand and glass beads. In keeping with my love of metal the glass pieces in “Water, Water”…” are made blue with the use of copper inclusions. Finally, “Turquoise Sky” is made of tiny, fused glass beads which allow water to flow through as it does in nature, back to the ocean.
Thank you to all who took the time to read. This has been a fun journey and I look forward to what lies ahead.
ALICE E. SHEPHERD 