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January 2009 Featured Student Artist:
Wesley Wong
25th Anniversary Pandas
Tile and glass, 2007
from Mosaic Summer Camp
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Journey
I have had an interest in art since I was young. I took many art classes in high school and college, but graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara with a degree in computer science. Soon after graduation, I took a stained glass class from a shop owner in Goleta and discovered the ideal medium for my creative juices. By combining my technical and artistic skills, I have been able to tackle some complex projects, such as a world globe and Tiffany lamp reproductions.
Louis C. Tiffany's famous lamps began as an offshoot of his stained glass windows business, when he decided to use the leftover sheets of glass into the production of lamps. My journey into mosaics began on a similar path. Having worked in stained glass for nearly 20 years, I had accumulated many boxes of scrap glass. I thought that mosaics would be a perfect way to use up all that scrap glass, and bought a pair of glass nippers. Not knowing how to properly use the nippers, they sat in my supply drawer for over 3 years, until I took a mosaics class with Christine Stewart at the Glass Craft Expo in Las Vegas. I was hooked on mosaics and wanted to learn more. That was when I discovered that Laurel True and IMA were only an hour away.
Classes taken at IMA:
Mosaic Summer Camp for Adults with Laurel True
Architectural Applications: Floors and Walls with Laurel True
The Business of Mosaics with Laurel True
Mosaic Valentine Hearts with Tracy Broback
Lightweight Concrete Sculpture for Mosaics with Tracy Broback
Mosaics
Giant Fortune Cookie,
, 2008
from Lightweight Concrete
Sculpture class
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After mastering the glass nippers, mosaics were a snap. Working with mosaics is a lot easier in many ways than traditional leaded stained glass. There is a lot more prep work and intermediate steps involved in leaded glass work, which adds to the total project time. Creating designs for mosaics is much simpler because you do not need to account for every cut line in the patterns. Cutting and setting glass for mosaics is more free-form and allows for greater spur-of-the-moment creativity. My biggest adjustment to working with mosaics was to resist the temptation to cut every piece of tesserae to the perfect size and shape.
Lovebirds Hurricane
Lamp, 2007
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Growth
I have much to learn about glass and mosaics. Fused glass is an area that I would like to explore more. Merging fused glass and mosaic techniques is a hot activity. Most of my mosaic projects have been small to medium sized art pieces. I am building my mosaic skills and repertoire towards larger pieces and architectural projects.
Direction
The majority of my stained glass and mosaic work has been given to family and friends or donated for fundraising events. Laurel's Business of Mosaics class provided the tips and kick-in-the-pants to start my stained glass and mosaics business; this is something that I had wanted to do for many years. Laurel's philosophy is to set your goals and "Go For It!" My goals for the year are: 1) Have a lamp published in the ASGLA Lamps for All Seasons calendar, 2) Exhibit a mosaic piece in a juried show, 3) Complete a large-scale mosaic project, 4) Make and sell commissioned pieces, and 5) Take more glass and mosaic classes (especially the Mural Making Intensive). I hope to exhibit my mosaic fortune cookie at the next Glass Craft Expo in April.
Pond Life Quilt Squares, 2008
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IMA
My mosaic skills have increased tremendously through the classes at IMA. The instructors and staff are all very helpful, friendly and supportive. I had taken Tracy's first Mosaic Valentine Hearts class to make a mosaic heart to give to my wife as a Valentine's present. The mosaic heart was published in the Delphi Glass 2008/2009 product catalog. I had a blast in the Valentine Hearts class, and wanted to learn how to make the concrete forms that Tracy had provided. Tracy's techniques in the Lightweight Concrete Sculpture class are accessible and easy to follow, and opens up a whole world of possibilities for future mosaic projects.
T16" Tiffany Tulip Lamp
Reproduction
, 2006
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Publications
Delphi Glass 2008/2009 product catalog — Artist Spotlight
Delphi Glass 1996/1997 product catalog — Artist Spotlight
Association of Stained Glass Lamp Artists (ASGLA) Calendars:
— 2009: "Pond Life" stained glass community quilt
— 2008: Black-Eyed Susan stained glass community quilt
— 2007: "Spring" stained glass community quilt
Links
www.glasstastique.com
www.flickr.com/photos/weswong
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