What Does it Take to Move an Idea into Glass?
“Blue Carousel” by Marlene Rose
The first of its kind, “Blue Carousel” is a beautiful depiction of the noble horse, born from Marlene’s lifelong and ardent passion for the ancient beasts.
For decades Marlene Rose wanted to express, in glass, the essence of horse, her delight in their form and physicality and the thousands-year bond we share with this fine animal. But she could never clearly envision the piece she wanted to create.
Long ago Marlene had seen pictures of prehistoric carvings that abstracted animal forms in the most modern manner. Then, some years later, she was given a tiny, glazed clay horse that epitomized, in miniature, some of the bold lines she loved. It was when she recently began riding again that she knew it was time to begin.
Clay was the easiest material to use to make the complex shapes she visualized. As her hands worked the material, and the material answered back, together artist and material worked, back and forth, to make the shape into what it knew it should be.
But the shape must talk before the fiery glass becomes blinding. The form must be right, before the seductive beauty of ever-changing vitreous alkalis overlay it.
Of course, what came out of the clay was quite different from any of its father-forms! The formerly flowing glass, now hardened, provided an ethereal aura to this shimmering-solid animal.
It’s through this work that Marlene hopes you, the viewer, will feel a small part of her love for these magnificent and eternal creatures…
For more information on this piece, please call the gallery.
