Thanks again to Conor whose party provided us with the inspiration and strength we needed to forge ahead gallantly into Day 4. All that being said, whatever I said yesterday about today’s plans in the hot shop have been redirected. Due to the whimisical and unpredictable nature of the “creative process,” the crew at TMoG and I decided to set aside the day’s production of hot-sculpted bees and beehives to be focused exclusively on large-scaled barometers…rougly three feet in length. Typically, barometers are created by means of flameworking and their scale is kept quite small. Enlarging this form off the pipe in the hot shop requires a certain sensitivity to the subtle details of its many elegant components. The barometers are a difficult thing to make, but in developing these pieces we arrived at a solution to their making which incorporates a visually gestural shape of grace and sophistication. Originally, the barometer was used in ancient times by sailors as an instrument to predict the weather during their travels, be it stormy or fair. When the liquid inside the form travels up the spout it indicated foul weather; when it receded it indicated the weather to be fair. I’m thinking of how to use the actual function of this instrument and what it implies to somehow indicate, metaphorically, human interaction and emotional content. I am also considering to incorporate engraving text upon the entire surface of these shapes of a dialogue between two or more people…also thinking about photographic transfers of vintage portraiture (think ghost photographs) and mirroring on the back. I hope this will become a sculptural representation of Andre Breton’s idea of communicating vessels…a metaphor I’ve always interpreted as one vessel pouring its contents into another and then recieving it back again. While all of this was taking place in the hot shop, Conor was busy cutting and fitting together the different components of the previous days’ work with the beehive shape forms and their bases.

Again, the TMoG team’s professionalism, skill and persistence has paid off with a successful development of a highly elegant form for me to use in my work. Both my assistant, David, and I have grown quite fond of the TMoG team and staff and, although we will still be working together tomorrow, we are already missing them. Tomorrow, we’ll all start blowing glass from 12 to 2 p.m., I will be providing a lecture from 2 till 3 and then finish up work back in the hot shop from 3 to 5. The barometers we made today were quite fulfilling and the sculptural potential of these objects alone will lead us to pursue a couple more of these forms tomorrow during our production time. The whole crew plans to end up at the Swiss for a beer or two after tomorrow’s session to wrap up the residency.