Reading From 2000 ft.

This is a new piece I made for submission in a group art show with a theme of "Landscape and Industry." It is my interpretation of a satellite view of Reading, where the interchanges of 222 meet at Penn Ave/Penn St. You can see the Schuylkill River, and next to it a small part of the city. This piece was fired in 2 parts initially and then those two parts were fused together in another firing. After that it was cold worked and fire polished into what you see in the pictures.

The first layer is set on almond colored glass. The trees and natural areas around the river are represented by glass frits in green colors. the river itself is designed from copper leafing and several different colored frits, all in shades of blue. The city is created from glass melted through stainless steel. This process creates the glass swirls you see and also accounts for the building lines. Stainless steel leaves some metal residue on the glass when I fire it in such a way and it is a very interesting design element. Certainly perfect for this project! Some of the buildings and parking lots you can see are represented by copper mesh, and others with mica powders I painted on there with the help of a gum arabic and water mixture. This layer was fused with a layer of clear glass to laminate it.

The second layer was a base of sheet glass onto which I constructed and adhered the road systems. The roads are designed with copper coiling wire and all bent and arranged according to the appearance of the city at a 2000 ft. altitude. The second layer was laminated and fused.

The next firing fused the two layers together. When that firing was complete, cold working began. The sides were cut square to expose the edges of the copper wire fused within. I sanded it to a fine finish and beveled the edges slightly, then it went back into the kiln for a fire polishing.

The finished piece of artwork is 7.5" W x 5.5" H x .5" D. It is shown unframed. My wonderful husband will be welding a stainless steel frame it before it due to be shown in the gallery show.