Janet has always been fascinated by the unique qualities of textured glass and how the light passes through it.  The ever-changing light of day and seasonal changes can completely affect the look of a glass panel.  It is not a static image, so you could never be tired of its beauty and chameleon effects.  Janet photographed one stained glass piece in different light, with different backgrounds, in front of a shaded window, and even its own reflection on a wall.  And it looked different in each situation.

Fun stuff, right? Click on any image to see it larger.

All of the artists at the gallery make what they create because they love the processes of it.  Marilyn Clayton wanted to explain this process.

The cuff bracelet pictured is a good example of Reticulation in Sterling Silver.  This process is one of Marilyn’s faves as it uses one of her favourite tools, a torch!!

The flat piece of silver is super-heated past red hot and just before melting.  What this does is get the copper that is in the sterling silver liquefying and moving around inside the sterling sheet.  This forms to patterns seen in this bracelet which looks and kind of feels, like leather.

Mary Firth’s childhood home on Lorne Pk. Rd.

When I was a kid in the 1940s, Christmas cards were folded in quarters; so my mum saved those that had no writing on the blank inside for us three kids to draw on. No pads of paper for us as, like so many others, our family was struggling after the war. But each of us had our very own box of 8 Crayola crayons – basic colours only! So we spent hours drawing and colouring and reading and playing outside with all the kids along Lorne Park Road. There was no TV, no devices back then.

I loved Friday afternoons in public school- art until recess. Bliss! I took Art all though high school and university, and summer courses at OCA in copper enamelling and paper sculpture, travelling with my former Grade 2 teacher to Toronto. I was fourteen. After completing two summers at OCE I returned the following summer to OCA to start work on my art specialist which I never completed. (I got married – as my principal said, I was taking another course!) But that summer course was lots o fun sketching in Kensington Market, on the ferry to the Toronto islands and there as well.

I sold my first oil painting that summer to one of my roommates for the princely sum of $5! Marriage brought all that fun stuff to halt – teaching, weekends devoted to laundry (wringer washer, clothesline), house work (which I loathe!) and the one bright spot, entertaining our teacher friends. Still have them, by the way!

In 1970 we tore down the old log house, and built new and larger one which was rather unfinished for quite some time. At that point we had two boys, so needless to say I was kept busy with the kids and painting trim, laying and grouting tile etc. Lots of good stuff to keep me out of trouble! So, here we get around to stained glass. When the boys were old enough to understand ‘Don’t touch!’ in 1982, I drove from the farm to Port Perry for a night school course. And here I will break off, but will continue this journey at another time.  Stay tuned.

View from Mom’s Deck

What inspires me?  The project I’m currently working on was sparked by a photo my mother took from her deck…a stunning sunset seen through the leafless trees in late autumn.  I pulled some very old and hand rolled glass from my glass stash…stuff I’ve had for many years but was waiting for the right inspiration.  The pattern I drew was limited by the amount of glass I had to work with.  Pattern placement is key.  No mistakes could be made while I was cutting the glass, or I would not have enough glass to finish that portion of the sunset.  The order in which the cuts were made had to be well planned to successfully cut out the orange sunset pieces.  The panel is almost ready to be soldered.  Once finished, new images will be posted.