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| The students in Michael Janis’ “Visualizations in Glass” circle around the instructor. |
Our urban cowboy, Professor Janis, returns to Washington, DC after a teaching stint on the wide open ranges of Hot Glass Houston – looking a bit like he was rode hard and put away wet. (Like he normally does, without benefit of photoshop services.) He had a great time, and sent some photos of his frit powder imagery class, and tales of sitting by the campfire with the class.
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| The students learned how to create imagery from frit powder. |
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| The students dove right in, creating a series of samples of different techniques. |
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| The class was very focused. |
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| The students each created great images |
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| A light touch…Michael divulged all his secrets of how to create fused layered images from frit powers and other media. |
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| Besides the sgraffito technique, the students learned how to deconstruct an image into separate layers. |
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| The images were assembled and fused into narrative studies – getting the 3 day class ready for larger works that pulled all the techniques together. |
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| Cynthia Gilkey works on a piece that incorporates a tribute to her mother, Rieko. |
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| Cynthia’s artwork as she worked. |
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| The finished work. |
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| Glass artist Kathy Jordan Walsh shows off her imagery skills. |
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| A dam built around the glass stack keeps the glass from flowing out during the firing process. |
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| After firing, the colors mature – what a great piece! |
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| The glass sets up their works inside the kiln – listening intently to Cynthia as she outlines how to minimize air bubbles and “edge needles”. |
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| The finished works as they are removed from the kiln. |
Was there cattle rustling? Certainly.
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| Houston has no zoning – the view from Michael’s hotel. Cow tipping allowed. |
Bowling with armadillos…in the glass studio? Natch.
Honkey-Tonks and wet t-shirt contests? Hell yeah – This is Texas, after all!
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| Opposite from Hot Glass Houston studio is the Red River Dance Hall & Saloon. |
A great time was had at a great place!
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| Afterwards, the class celebrates a fun session. |
