ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship | Dream Come True (6.15.20)
After the COVID-19 hit, I got one of those phone calls — every artist longs for — from Liz Fitzgerald at the Arts & Science Council.
I had been chosen for a very prestigious Creative Renewal Fellowship.
There are several big “dreams” this fellowship will fund… things that, quite frankly, I have not been able to afford… and will transform my capabilities with future creative work!
1) It will cover a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass to take a class with a master glass artist… and time to peruse the CMOG vast glass museum — one of the best in the world.
Though post-COVID-19, everything looks a lot different [and my original class was canceled because she’s from Australia], my next choices are a close second. Taking this trip later in 2020 will be a game-changer for my new glass and other artwork!
2) This Creative Renewal Fellowship also funds new digital equipment [another “luxury” I’ve not been able to justify on my lean start-up budget] including a gimbal that will forever change my video capabilities!
WHERE DID THIS VIDEO DREAM/IDEA COME FROM?
If you know my work, I’m inspired/motivated/driven by water/glass/light. However, since I started glass in my own studio, I’ve also secretly been attempting to capture moving light/glass/water.
Sunlight would stream through one high window in summer months, piercing a piece of my water glass that had been fired multiple times. Because the intensity of sunlight was “moving” through clouds/treetops, the refraction and cast lights/shadow were very “water-like” in their movement. (Think lapping ocean waves on a sandy beach.)
[See above/below images for light impressions made from the sun hitting my glass.]
For years, I’ve attempted to “capture” this with cameras, stands, and my older iPhone… with only sad, very amateur attempts. Last year, while I was Atrium Health AiR at McColl Center for Art + Innovation, my passion was renewed to capture this undulating sunlight streaming in through my MCAI studio window, hitting my cast glass and reflecting/refracting/casting this ephemeral moment.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN 2019 THAT MOVED ME TOWARD THE MOVING IMAGE?
Fanjoy Labrenz (Sally Fanjoy and James Labrenz) are a creative powerhouse duo. They invited me to participate in a groundbreaking project/exhibition with the Hickory Museum of Art and the Corning Foundation.
This exhibition explored and documented the messy, creative, collaborative process of six artists over much of 2019 working together exploring light, glass, movement, and connection — among other things.
The final collaborative piece — called “Seeing Light” — was created for HMA space using Corning Optical fibers as well as multiple videos gathered/shot by Fanjoy Labrenz during the process. The entire process was collaborative with multiple creative influences on every artist’s ideas/images. However, each creative/artist had their own vision/aesthetic still present in final videos that Fanjoy Labrenz created.
[See link for final video composite OR see video below. Jarvi’s work comes in about 4:30. Note that this work is literally exploring glass/light/water/movement — directly.]
Between the MCAI residency, my old rekindled passions for moving light/glass/water, and working on this HMA/Corning project, I decided that what I really want is to add the moving video element to my work.
If you’ve followed me/my work for a while, you know that although it all has similar roots of inspiration, I continue to go deeper and explore creative, related tangents.
Stay tuned. Some interesting changes/developments in my creative work are coming.
Currently, I’m learning some very new [to me] technology, but I will continue to share these passions… my attempt to bring beauty to this broken world.
[See my very own 2019 video shorts exploring light/water/glass/movement on this Instagram Story Highlight LINK.]
Arts & Science Council [in spite of their own budget struggles] continue to offer innovative ways to support regional creatives. The Creative Renewal Fellowship is a fairly new program that is a game changer for established and emerging artists!
