Julia Protkova: Homo Explorer. Flammarion engraving in glass. 2019. 32 x 26 cm

Homo Explorer is what I called this piece. I very much like this name. I like the subject matter behind the piece; the pilgrim having reached the end of the world and having found a gap between the firmament and the earth. I was thinking about the pilgrim. To reach the end of the world, he crossed the whole earth. The pilgrim saw very much on his journey and he has a rich life experience. What is he looking for? He is searching for the Different and the Unknown. What is this, the search for God? Yes, to a certain extent. I think it is not for nothing that the pilgrim is depicted kneeling, and that in the upper left corner you can see Ezekiel’s double wheel (a wheel in a wheel) as Divine symbolism. But at the same time, it is the search for the Unseen.

What you see here is called Flammarion engraving. Camille Flammarion was the author of many scientific books. He was involved with spiritualism and was acquainted with Elena Blavatsky. Within the book titled “Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology” written by Flammarion and published in 1888, you can find this picture with the following subtext, “A missionary of the Middle Ages tells that he had found the point where the sky and the Earth touch...”. Who is the author of this engraving? Who is the author behind this idea? No one knows but it is believed that Flammarion could have made it himself. The original looks like this.

My work with the glass was divided into two parts: Part 1) I wanted to recreate this engraving within glass using my own technique. Part 2) To create my own color scheme and to apply it with the help of glass powder. The “engraving” part of this work was fairly complicated. Probably one of the most challenging drawings I have done thus far. And so I completed it by primarily working with a needle and using it to organize the particles of glass powder. For those of you who are interested in the fusing with glass powder technique, you can find more information about it here. The “engraving” part of this piece took 39 hours to complete. This is how it looks before the coloring process.

I deliberately did not include a frame around my piece. In my opinion, without a frame there is more space for the imagination.

And so, I turned over the piece and started to color it in on the reverse side with glass powder. This took another 21 hours to complete. The total time spent on this work is 60 hours.

For the first time ever, I have put together and released a video of a slide show on YouTube to illustrate the process from beginning to end.

What is new in my work? I have for the first time used a new color called “Blue Black” (104 Bullseye Glass). It gives off a blue tint before fusing and becomes Black with a shade of blue after being fused. And of course, I was doing an experiment. What would happen if I color the whole backside of this piece with glass powder? Is it possible that the work would not have turned out well? Yes, there was the risk of multiple bubbles appearing on piece which would in turn ruin the piece completely.

If you google “Flammarion Engraving”, you will find many different color schemes. I found fifteen different color schemes as well a mosaic on the subject, a stained glass piece and a woodcut. On top of all that, I also found that someone is trying to sell a version of the Flammarion Engraving that you would color in yourself as well as one that is already colored in. If you want to color in your own pilgrim, you can find it here.

As you can see in the picture, there are two completely different parts: The Universe and Our World. It is interesting coloring in this picture, especially the Universe part of it. Here you can see three different color schemes side-by-side.

I was showing these three to my friends during the making of this piece. I was interested in what people had to say when I would show it to them. The feedback was always different. And so I thought for a long time about how I see the Universe. For me, the keyword to the Universe is “Different”. I am certain the the pilgrim saw colors that he never saw before on in Our World. How to create Different colors? I chose Emerald Green, Turquoise, Lilac and Pink. I decided that the combination of these colors would differentiate from what can be found on Our World, namely the blue sky with the yellow sun and the green earth. Of course, I used many different shades. In total I used thirty different colors.

I have to say that, that this is not the first piece I did about the Universe. The thought of the Unknown has enveloped me for many years. What do you see in the picture if you single out the Universe part? It consists of a wheel within a wheel, different suns and all the while it has a multi-layered structure and rhythm. I would say that the Universe is shown as an intricate ornament. Right? Right! Does it look like music? Yes, it does! I am guiding you towards the idea of music. I believe that the pilgrim does not just see, but hears as well. He becomes a man who is listening to the music of the Universe.

I tried to convey this idea. Respectively, I wanted to draw the music of the Universe. Do you see the clouds? I colored them emerald green and this helps create the rhythm. Why emerald green? It came out of nowhere. I am absolutely serious. I initially colored the double wheel, then the sun and then I decided to color in just the clouds. And so a rhythm was born.

Here is a photo illustrating the Homo Explorer (work in progress). I am holding a paintbrush.

The fully colored piece looks like this.

Finally, the work has been fused. The result of the fusing surprised me, but the glass piece turned out beautifully. Very Beautiful. The glass is extraordinarily smooth and almost warm to the touch. The surface of the piece has a subtle wave-like texture to it. The colors that I used turned out to be quite vivid, and the Universe looks gentle. I am very happy. This piece is spectacular. The weight of this piece is 1.5Kg, it is wholly tangible.

The fusing of experimental glass it is always a process of interacting with the unknown. For example, I expected to see black lines when instead they turned out blue. I thought that the whole “engraving” part of this piece would have a relief to it, but instead the glass became smooth. I thought the colors would be more vibrant, but believe me, they turned out exactly how they are supposed to be. Yes. The final result is very different from what was initially planned. On the other hand, the piece did not become any worse for it. It can be said that the unknown has corrected my work, for which I am grateful for. Before you, is an example of the interaction between an artist and creative power.

Here are four different corners of the piece to illustrate the detail involved. I like the lake/river with the multiple townships, the shading of the water and the little bridge. The fact that my hand when working with the needle could accomplish such detail makes me pretty happy.

In this photo, pay attention to the openings in the firmament, they are painted in the corresponding colors of the Universe.

There should have been three shades of pink. I like the interaction between lilac and pink.

The space between the sun and the dark part of the night sky was supposed to be bluish with prominent white stars.

For some of you, it might be interesting to see what the backside of the “World” looks like. As you can see, there are quite a few bubbles. I could have used white glass as a base for this piece, but I wanted to especially see what happens to the glass powder when it is fused between two pieces of glass. This experiment turned into the backside of the “World”. The piece is reversible you can say. I was afraid, that some kind of bubble would break through the “engraving” part of this piece, but in the end, everything worked out.