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Growing up, my family lived in a wooded
neighborhood where lots were measured in acres. Neighbors were fairly
close but with intervening spaces filled with woods the neighborhood
was bordered on one side by a bayou. This is where I spent a lot of
time, roaming around in the woods.
This exposure to nature during these years had a formative effect on
the imagery my art would take much later in life. As I’ve grown and
lived I’ve come to understand how connected all life is, how
interdependent, how dependent we are on the other life forms for our
own survival. And yet, we indulge in activity every day that does harm
to the very things that sustain us.
What I try to do with my work, with these pieces, is to showcase the
beauty and diversity of the small forms of life to show that they not
only deserve to exist but must exist. |
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Ellen Abbott and Marc Leva have been working in
glass as a team since 1976 after a serendipitous afternoon propelled
them into the burgeoning studio glass movement and the establishment of
their studio, Custom Etched Glass. Ellen's life long series of
art classes and Marc's craftsmanship and problem solving skills enabled
them to design and create carved and etched architectural glass for a
national clientele. After over 40 years of producing commission work
for homes and businesses, Ellen and Marc have retired from this work to
concentrate on the small sculptural work in the pate de verre lost wax
kiln cast method.
They became interested in cast glass in the early 1980s and began their
journey in the technique by using custom cast crystal forms in some of
their commission work. This interest in cast glass eventually
provided another outlet for creative expression and in 1994, they
started exploring the pate de verre method of cast glass by testing out
ceramic, jewelry, and bronze casting techniques, as there was no
instruction available, and developed the process they use today. |
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The Carved and Etched Glass
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The architectural work was by commission only but
after over 40 years we have decided to retire. We are no longer
accepting etched glass commissions. If you would like to see some of
that work, click here to go to the etched glass gallery
page.
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These
are the categories in which the different bodies of work
fall.
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The Bowls: This is the form we started
with, learned the craft on and are the first sculptural pieces we did.
Beginning with plain simple forms; the flower, sky, and mineral series;
these pieces were explorations in color and pattern. Gaining
confidence, we started the sculptural limited editions of 10 or 25 and
although each piece in a series is the same form, the color
combinations vary. |
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The Small Sculptures: These are simple
glorifications of the small life of the natural world. I am endlessly
awed by the beauty and diversity of nature. |
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The Large Bowls: The large bowls were
about getting bigger. I explored several themes; the solar system,
flowers, but some of these were the first pieces in which I used more
than one element. |
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The Cups: I started doing the cups
thinking that it would be something I could enter into goblet
exhibitions and therefore get more exposure. They are one of my
excursions into containers and contents, insides and outsides as none
of the cups is empty, being all of a piece to show the interdependence
of one to the other. They are meant to be fun. I did about 15 of these
and then moved on to another form but I never did enter a single goblet
exhibition. |
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The Vases: These pieces are taller
versions of the small bowls, sculptures in
the round, only instead of limited edition, each piece is one of a
kind. They are stories. I've been interested in the art of
storytelling for a long time. It is the precurser of our history books.
It is the knowledge and wealth of a people. These pieces are small
stories but worthy of hearing. |
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The Boxes: The boxes are either Odes or
Laments and sometimetimes they have contents, items that may be
removed. Whether Ode or Lament, the boxes all have stories that go with
them. |
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The Botanica Erotica: These pieces focus
on the reproductive parts of flowers or the suggestive way that petals
unfold or the fullness of completion. They are about how plants, and
animals too, unabashedly go about the process of procreation, the most
powerful biological imperative, unlike us humans who cloak it in shame.
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The Drowned Feathers: The drowned feathers
were inspired by a week on the Oregon Coast and all the shed feathers
plastered on the wet sand. This set is comprised of
9 pieces but since I enjoyed doing them I did others that were not
drowned. |
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