"Glass" Sculptures

Original inspiration for my project!

Vitamin Water bottle recycled!

                         I recently discovered "Pinterest" and think it is exactly like Facebook, both a wonderful invention and a huge waste of time.   I see lots of great ideas that I save, or "pin" for another day- that will probably never come.  It's almost exactly like when I go to a craft show or shopping with my best friend Angela.  We see things that we could make on our own, and we confidently take notes, snap pictures, and discuss the media, the process, technique, and then walk off feeling quite pleased with ourselves that we can make the same thing, for a lot less.  Of course you can guess what happens!  We never do make the piece of jewelry/recycled bottle top earrings/funky painting or whatever it was we saw that caught our interest.

Dale Chihuly at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

The other day I saw a really exciting idea for using recycled water bottles and making some really cool art out of them.  I have been a huge fan of Dale Chihuly for years, and the picture I saw was actually very exciting and looked a lot like his glass sculptures, not some kitschy/crafty project that looked like a pre-school craft gone badly wrong.

I saw the picture on Pinterest, but it is from a blog called "Share and Remember" (http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/2011/04/plastic-bead-mosaic.html).  I thought it was very interesting that the only things that were needed were Sharpie markers and a heat gun, and of course a way to cut the bottle.

I thought I would give it a go yesterday. It took less than half an hour, which is great for someone like me who needs instant gratification!  (I could never get into stippling, I just don't have that kind of patience!)   I was very excited about the possibilities of how this could transfer into the classroom.

Emily's great concoction

I wonder what large two liter bottles would look like cut up and transformed. My art teacher friend Emily saw my post and

cut up a large two liter bottle and posted the picture (left).

I can't wait to do this with my students.  I think huge pieces would make a great visual impact. I may even change around the units I already have planned so I can do this earlier.   (I told you I was impatient.)

Chihuly at Kew, 2006

Dale Chihuly's website (http://www.chihuly.com/) has more on his artworks, exhibitions, and installations.  If you have ever been to the Bellagio in Vegas you have seen a Chihuly!

On the day that I saw the Chihuly exhibit at Kew Gardens I was in the middle of an EF tour with students in London.  We had a few hours  free time, and told the students we would meet them at a certain time, and not to be late.  My friend Angela (of afore-mentioned shop-and-gloat experiences) and one of my art students, Nicole,  raced to the nearest train out to Kew, in the suburbs of London.  The website for the
exhibit said that "Gardens of Glass: Chihuly at Kew was the 
first exhibition of its kind to be held in Europe, with its 
spectacular sequence of organically shaped and glass 
sculptures set throughout Kew’s 300-acres garden landscape
and inside its glasshouses. The exhibition was specifically 

Chihuly at Kew, 2006

designed to respond to Kew’s living collections, landscape,
architecture and vistas and the visitors' experience altered 
dramatically from day to night and from season to season."
(http://www.kew.org/chihuly/index.html)

We literally raced around the huge gardens, trying to see
all of the pieces that were placed around the gardens.
Without a doubt, our favorite were the huge pieces placed
in boats on a pond, and the loose pieces that were left to bob

Chihuly's "Sun"

around on their own, at the mercy of the wind and water. It
was one of my favorite exhibits to this day that I have been
to.  Of course the fact that I was sharing it with Angela
made it even more enjoyable.

We made it back to London to meet the students, we were only a few minutes late.  They had all been shopping and were excited about their purchases.  We were thrilled about our amazing morning, (I still remember that morning with great fondness) and I have had a love affair with Chihuly and his glass ever since!  I'll post pictures of the sculptures once we are done with them.


See interviews with Chihuly here.


Thanks for stopping by!