Preparing for a Show: An Artist’s Perspective

Jocelyn and I participated in the Gathering of the Guilds, 2025 (GOTG). It was fun to see people’s reactions to the fact that my sculptures are made of glass, especially with the level of detail I include. We learned a lot about show atmosphere and audience, and developed customer and seller profiles, price points, and general level of interest in sculpture. We decided then and there that we’d take that first experience to the show this year.

Getting ready for the show this year is a little different. I’ve pulled out molds for smaller pieces to sell at GOTG. I had already been experimenting with what I refer to as “spirit stones,” small glass pocket pieces in a variety of shapes. I use the “lost wax” process to create my sculptures. I’m interested in form, of course, but also in transparencies and colors and textures. I decided to try combining “captured” colors and characters, stamped and molded  inside stones of varying sizes and shapes. For these first pieces I’ve chosen somewhat familiar Japanese Kanji character and a newer African Adinkra character. You can see some of these experiments (with lots of photos) on my Patreon page, https://www.patreon.com/GlassStudioGeek. It’s free to take a peek, but I hope you’ll find the story and pictures worth subscribing to the journey. I share both failures and successes so you see what I’m learning. 

I keep logs of kiln firings (like I did in high school Chemistry) and all kinds of scrap paper notes (like I know better than) on glass color, type, textures, and amounts. I talk about plaster and silica, and perlite and epoxy and silicone and urethane and angels and demons and holes and plugs and…  (theStudio is usually messy).

The photos show process, and progress, and sucks, and successes.

Right now, while preparing for the show, I’m way behind in Patreon text, but I’m posting (free) photos that I’ll  talk about if you come to Gathering of the Guilds, and I’ll text about later on Patreon. In the meantime, I’m packing molds, the kiln, boxes, the car, then unloading all of that before doing it all again. Fortunately J is handling all the truly important things including tables and chairs and shelves and banners and cards and car and all the other wonderful and necessary components of marketing and management. She’s an angel!

 
More later…