In August, 2016, I travelled to France, via a ferry, on a three day trip to Paris, in order to visit the Dali exhibition. The building itself, however, was fairly tucked away, in the back allies, as it was evidently not, a huge tourist attraction, although paragraphs of what was written, were in English as well as French. Once inside, within was disclosed may of the works that he created in his lifetime, and a few short films about his life, including his sculpture 'Space Elephant', as well paintings that incorporated this same element. These abnormal creatures represent Humanity's desire to reach ever higher and how we are shackled to the earth, by gravity. As well as this, there were sculptures, such as 'Lady With A Head Of Roses', made out of brass, which included Dali's crutches, that in some cases symbolise weakness however in other examples, such as this, present women as the stronger sex. Others of Dali's works, display ants, that are used to propose the idea of death, decay or sexual desire. Drawers, that are featured in many of his works of art, cite the storage of sins or secrets, and when they are open, it implies that all that is hidden in the unconscious mind, is bared for all the world to see, and judge. One of my personal favorite of Dali's works, that was on display, was 'Lady With A Head Of Roses', due to the symbolism and the sense of elegance, that is illustrated.
I used this experience as inspiration for my poem and accompanying glass piece, 'Utopian Dreams'.
For this, I used opaque backing glass, but also capped and uncapped dichroics on black and clear glass. The difference between black and clear based dichroics is marked. On black it shines with vibrant rainbows and on clear there is a subtle shimmer. When there is other glass colours underneath the clear dichroic, these can be seen, as that is not the case with black-based dichroic glass. This was the first piece I cut using a professional glass saw, rather with a hand-cutter, which allowed me to cut a much more complicated shape rather than a straight line.
Sounds amazing!