Seen above is "The Moonlight Violin"
We love to take musical instruments that are no longer playable and
make them visual works of art instead. The lovely Moonlight Violin featured
millefiore polymer clay canes in the images of stars and halfmoon
faces.
Bryan recently embellished another instrument for the Longmont Symphony
Orchestra's 2005 fundraising event "The Art Of Music".
Symphony organizations around the country
have found this to be a very popular program that is enthusiasticly received
by their patrons. The decorated instruments are displayed in local businesses
and at the library, and then auctioned to the highest bidder at a special
Gala Event.
The LSO purchased 23 student
scale violins for decoration and transformation into visual art pieces.
They intend to have pictures of each violin on their web site soon. The
Times-Call Newspaper featured the violins in an article
recently, and more of the violins can be viewed by clicking here.
Design ideas were presented in sketch form and the proposals of 17 local
professional artists and 16 local high school art students were chosen.
As part of our proposal, we showed a picture of the Moonlight Violin,
a piece covered with beads and slices of polymer clay millefiore
canes with images of moons and stars.
The violin he embellished for the LSO event features both the sun and
the moon---and much more!
Very intricate pieces like this take a lot of work, in a great many
steps.
Parts must be added in steps and allowed to dry before the instrument
can be turned to present the next surface.
Persistance and patience are crucial when
doing mosaics.
This one starts with a working instrument, though most of the sculptures
done here in The Polyclay Gallery begin with broken (no longer playable)
instruments that are donated to us for the purpose of beautification.
Clay is conditioned to prepare it for use, and canes are
built, sliced and baked.
All the myriad bits and pieces including handformed glass and colorful
telephone wires have to be collected---and then turned into art! Vintage
blue Art Deco glass tiles from the 1920's line the sides on this violin,
and come from our stash of treasures obtained over the years from artists,
antique dealers, and sellers of vintage beads and buttons throughout the
world.
As you can see above, boxes of extra beads and bags of tiles also work
well when propping things for ease in application.
The glass on the sides is taped off with masking tape to protect it
when the front and back are sprayed with Varathane.
We lavished some of our very nicest bits and pieces on
this special piece--as musicians ourselves, we are particularly pleased
to be able to help support the local symphony!
Dichroic glass cabochons and other small shapes were hand
cut and kiln fired to round their edges by local glass artist Margie Drake.
Tiny multiclored glass beads also encrust the surface of the front and
blue ones fill in around the vintage glass squares that follow the curve
of the sides.
Day and Night Violin is the
title of this mosaic beauty.
Each componant is individually placed and carefully affixed using PVA
glues and Varathane.
The stars on the back of the violin are made of Glow In The Dark polymer
clay. Cobalt blue dichroic glass accents repeat the brilliant blue from
the glass on the sides. Below is a closeup view of the front before the
strings are replaced with colorful telephone wires.
"The Night is old--The Day is new.
Within them both, the sky is blue"
