2021. My projects.

The year 2021 was a pivotal period in my development as an artist. I curated my works not in chronological order but in a way that creates a flow in my narrative. I'll commence my story with the piece titled My Soul. This work holds significant importance for me. 

Honestly, I didn't anticipate naming the piece this way. Initially, I had envisioned a completely different design. However, as I traced the outline of my hands on the reverse side of the glass, I suddenly distinctly heard the thought that this was my soul. The piece encourages contemplation. Additionally, take note that the hands of little Yulka (Julia's nickname in Russian, would be pronounced as "Yool-ka.") are drawn in such a way that you can raise your hands in the same gesture and touch mine, welcoming my soul. It's a good piece—profound, and I am pleased with it.

I have a post and a video about the Glass Herd of Dürer's Rhinos. In my film, which exists in two copies—I voiced both an English and a Russian version—I shared the story behind the creation of my Rhinos. In 2021, Rhino-boy #3 was brought to life. This piece is my Everest, without exaggeration. It stands out as the best-executed among the Rhinos, a pinnacle of delicate craftsmanship. It is a source of great pride for me.

Symphony #1 is my first independent musical composition in glass. I have mentioned before that I hear glass; it's challenging to express in words, but I hear glass music. I had around 75 shades of multicoloured glass powder, and I wanted them to resonate in harmony.

The Takeoff project was conceived immediately after the passing of my father, a professor, avid fisherman, and amateur gardener. In this piece, each color carries significant meaning, and the optical illusion of the rising sphere symbolizes the ascent of his soul. I've created a video detailing the process of working on this project—it's quite captivating.

When I saw the image from the German manuscript (The Stammheim Missal, Hildesheim, ca. 1170; Ms.64 (97.MG.21), fol. 10v.), I fell in love with it instantly. I had some very beautiful glass, and I wanted to recreate this image in glass. I worked at the pace of one day of creation for each day. In other words, I created six circular images in six days. It was a very interesting, almost mystical, I would say, experience. Six days of Creation. 

I am delighted with this image. It's an illustration from the Spanish manuscript Beatus of Liébana, Commentary on the Apocalypse (the "Silos Apocalypse"), 1091-1109. The picture depicts Adam and Eve, but I named this project Insight on Love. In my interpretation, it represents a profoundly important emotion.

Hermes Trismegistus and the Creative Fire that Unites the Polarities is taken from an alchemy book from 1624. I have been fascinated by esotericism for over fifteen years and greatly enjoy exploring such themes. The creative fire in this image caught my interest. Interestingly, I found a coloured version of this engraving online, and the fire was depicted as ordinary flames. This disturbed me because creative fire is an entirely different substance. Additionally, being bipolar myself, I saw a connection with the two polarities depicted—the Sun and the Moon.

In general, it's a charming picture that I coloured according to my own interpretation. Specifically, the creative fire is also polar, with dark-purple hues reminiscent of the night and flashes of a spring day.

This piece is my third attempt at creating a Cat in glass. The original inspiration comes from Yayoi Kusama's self-portrait. In 2019, my first attempt ended in the piece shattering in the kiln. In 2020, the Cat emerged with a spot covering its entire face. In 2021, I mustered the courage for a third try. I've inscribed the following text on the work:

This work is called Alien Cat (Attempt #3). This is a re-creation in glass of a self-portrait by Yayoi Kusama (2009) that uses a different colour scheme. Yayoi Kusama is my role model, my guiding star and  my inspiration. I admire her talent and her passionate dedication towards art. This work is a tribute to her. This is my third attempt to re-create this Cat. I hope for success.  Glass work and technique by Julia Protkova. 2021.

This project is called "Owl." My mom really loves it. It's a nice, quick project created using glass powder.

This project is called "Tiger 2021." It's a revisiting of the same image with which I created a Tiger in 2013. I was curious to see my progress, and the result is a magnificent creature. Very well done!

In 2021, I created the stained glass piece Passion. It reflects on the concept of passion in general, particularly my passionate and obsessive attachment to coloured glass. Each color in the stained glass carries a symbolic meaning. For instance, the raindrop background signifies my tears along the stained glass path, while the ash-blue frame represents emotional burnout—a state I experienced. But overall, my Passion is beautiful.

As a self-taught artist, I crafted this stained glass at the Atelier under the guidance of the professional Rock Laplante. Rock shared the secrets of the craft with me, and I am immensely grateful to him for that. After Rock's passing in 2023, I acquired this stained glass piece, and it now resides in my collection as a reminder of our collaborative work. There is a video showcasing all the shades of glass in the Passion stained glass.

The following six pieces are made from coarse frit—large glass crumbs. I refer to them as instant fused panels (IFP). These are my experiments with large crumbs, a burst of ideas. Created within a couple of hours, my primary interest in this technique lies in its ease of execution. Ideally, it should be done near the kiln, but as I don't have that option, I had to modify the technique slightly. Nevertheless, the essence remains the same—it's a quick transmission of an idea. I dedicated all six works to members of my family. Each piece consists of both a drawing and text. Interestingly, writing the text on the work took almost as much time as creating the drawing itself.

The first work is called My Bipolar World. At the top - the sky and the sun. At the bottom - the night sky with the moon and stars. In the center - a symbolic image of our Earth, decorated with instant fused panels. This is my Dream - to create a Coloured Glass World and fly into space and see the World decorated with Coloured glass.

First panel. This work is called My Bipolar World. It reflects my vision as a human and that of a glass artist. This is my first trial using this new technique which I am still developing. Julia Protkova. May 2021.

The idea behind the second instant fused panel is more structured than the first. I actually thought about making this panel two-coloured. Blue is me, orange is my son. This is my favorite colour combination. In the center - a baby in the womb - from that moment my love for my son began. The upper-left-quadrant is the close interactions of a mother and child in childhood and the gradual weakening of guardianship with the maturation of the son. The bottom-right is my son and I - two independent individuals who love each other, but respect each other's space. The remaining two quadrants (bottom-left to top-right) are lined with colours of glass that my son chose.

Second panel. This work is called All in all. It is a reflection of the love I have for my Son as well as the love, warmth and support I receive from him. It is an honour to have him as my Son. This is the second trial where I am using a new technique that I am developing. Julia Protkova. May 2021.

The third panel consists entirely of light colours. This was my mom's request. My mom sponsored my IFP prototypes. “Follow your dreams”, she said. That's what I called this panel, Follow Your Dream. I love my mom very much. She is my friend. I tried to create an image of absolute happiness. For myself, this is a lake in which I would swim all day long, a meadow with colourful flowers and a sky sprinkled with stars. But the night sky has been replaced by a shooting star as the symbol of my Dream.

Third panel. This work is called Go for your Dream. These are words that my Mom said to me when she sponsored my recent glass experiments. This work is a tribute to my unique Mama. Trial #3. Julia Protkova. June 2021.

The fourth panel is dedicated to my sister. I asked my sister to choose the colours she wanted and her selection closely resembled the shades seen at night. Thus, a new experiment was born - how would dark glass look? I named this panel Greetings from Montreal. What does it mean? You know, back in 2014, I signed the Golden Book of Montreal at the City Hall. In that book, I wrote, “My dear Montreal, I really hope that my art will make you even more beautiful.” So, my panel depicts my dreams of decorating Montreal in particular.

Fourth panel. This work is called Greetings from Montreal. It is dedicated to my Sister for her care and love. It is because of you that I can call Montreal home and I am very grateful for that, Trial #4. Julia Protkova. July 2021.

The fifth panel is very complex and colourful. It's called Remembering Youth and is dedicated to my ex-husband. He has been and continues to be friend and support for 37 years. Each colour and ornament signifies certain stages and events of our youth.

Fifth panel. This work is called Remembering Youth. It is dedicated to my ex husband, my friend and my support for 35 years Victor Protkov. It was you who introduced me to art. It was you who taught me how to create. Trial #5. Julia Protkova. July-November 2021.

The sixth panel marks the completion of my experiments. It is called Music of Light and is dedicated to the memory of my Father. Here, I just allowed myself to just go with the flow. I was thinking of my Father and thanking him.

Sixth panel. This project is called Music of Light. It is dedicated to the memory of my father Professor Steve Globe (1938-2020). This is the final test in my study on Instant Fused Panels. This work summarizes my steps to develop this technique. Test #6. Julia Protkova. November 2021.

Let me say a few more words. I have the pleasure and good fortune of being able to watch over these panels day and night. I have seen and know how beautiful classic stained glass windows are. My instant fused panels IFPs shine just as well. Throughout the day, there are special moments where they reflect the sun in mesmerizing ways. I am convinced that this technique is very promising, beautiful, and rapid to perform.

Road of Pilgrim. 2019. 27 x 33 cm.

I, with great pleasure, would like to show you my latest work. It is called the Road of Pilgrim and it is inspired by Van Gogh’s, Road with Cypress and Star. This time I will try not to mix lyrics with technique and I will write two separate parts. The lyrical part is for those interested in the thoughts of the artist. The technical part is for those interested in the details behind the making of the piece.

 Lyrical Part.
The Road of Pilgrim is a logical continuation of my previous work called Homo Explorer (story here). I will remind you that Homo Explorer, is about a pilgrim who saw and heard the Unknown. He walked to the edge of the earth, found a loophole in the fabric of reality and took a glance at the Universe. Here I thought to myself, that the Road of Pilgrim is about the pilgrim returning from a meeting with the Unknown. He will be meeting with people on the road, telling of the things he has seen. What will he tell the others? Will he be able to convey his feelings, emotions and new vision? It has always concerned me how knowledge is passed on. What should I believe? Who should I believe? How do we see? How do we understand what we are told? Finally, since everyone sees the world through their own perspective, it is truly difficult to convey something without distortion. 

 Take a look at my work. It is different from the original, that is obvious. It is a portrayal of my vision of the original work. This is how I see it, do you understand? It is incredibly interesting to me. At some point in time, I was examining a photo of my finished work and was disappointed to see that it looked like a child’s drawing; naive art. I was flustered. I started to analyze how I went about creating this piece. I tried really hard. It was the first time I used this brush stroke texture. But the work is very dynamic. Try to play with the picture by looking at it closer or farther away from the monitor. You will see the effect of movement, which is exactly what I was trying to convey. I personally see it loud and clear. If you catch the desired focus point - everything is moving. A star flickers, an angel flies in the sky, shrubs and cypress sway and the road runs. 

 Why did I choose this work? For the effect of movement and the road. I feel as if I am a pilgrim on the road attempting to talk about the beauty of the world. I am meeting people on the way. Some are interested in what I have to say while others do not care. That is normal. The road itself awakens within me a sense of anticipation new, new meetings and new places. I love this feeling. I love the road. This work is a tribute to people who feel they are on their paths. May the guiding star always shine on you. 

This is my third work based off of Van Gogh’s paintings. Firstly I created Irises in December 2018 (story here), next came Starry Night in January 2019 (story here), and now my Road of Pilgrim. I think a lot about Van Gogh. He interests me very much. For those who read my blog, you know that I am a self-taught artist with bipolar disorder. My vision and understanding of Van Gogh as an artist with bipolar disorder is my own. I understand his passion for creation. I too, also dream of creating art day and night. I am grateful for the opportunity to create glass, and develop myself further as an artist. For those interested in what I have created this year (2019), there is a post, 2019: Results of the Year (here). 

I created a picture for comparison. What do I want to show with this picture? I am satisfied with the colour scheme that I chose for this piece. You see two different works on the same subject. Two different human visions. You know, researchers say that Van Gogh thought about death when creating this painting. I do not know. But I can tell you what I was thinking about. For me, it is a life-affirming work. The understanding that I am going and moving forward. Thank God I can continue to create my glass and further develop myself. During the time that I worked on Road of Pilgrim I formulated for myself my future steps. 

I created my technique of drawing with glass powder for the opportunity to create my favourite pictures in glass with maximum accuracy. In this work, I enjoyed the freedom of not having to draw accurately. I like how it turned out. I really like how the texture of this piece turned out. 

What ideas am I trying to convey? For the first time, I allowed myself some freedom in the design. I applied brush strokes of glass powder as I felt. There was no incentive to draw with precision, it was also not possible because of the difference in medium. I feel like I have progressed a step further in developing my own artistic style. 

Technical Part. 
I want to show you how I go about my work. I explain the basics of my technique here. 

First of all, I have never done such a texture with glass powder before. I call this texture a complex ornament. This is my first attempt, first experiment, 91 hours of work and a total of 5 firings. 

What is the texture of a complex ornament? It is the alternation between different colours of glass powder. A simple ornament would have a basic pattern such as ABABAB. A complex ornament on the other hand would have a more intricate pattern such as ABACABABAC, ABCABC or any other combination up to ten colours. 

I worked with five to ten colours at a time. The road for example is comprised of ten different colours. Each colour has its own brush to avoid any contamination with different colours. Of course, you can make do with one brush and wash it after every brush stroke… but it is more comfortable with ten brushes. Here the photo shows six colours ready to be used. To the left of the work, you see six containers with glass powder with a brush in each one. 

If you take a look at the slide show (here), the first picture shows how I drew on different areas of the piece. I would start on the sky, then the road, then the shrubs. After I have worked on different areas of the piece, the work was fused for the first time. After seeing the result of the first fusing, I increased the density of the brush strokes a tad. Finally, in one centimeter I had 4.5 brush strokes. This is a fairly fine work, let me tell you. In total, it took 91 hours to complete. I calculated that I could draw up to nine square centimeters per hour. In the slide show, the pictures are taken approximately every five hours. 

It is very important to keep track of the viscosity of the glass powder paste. More than anything, it needs to be of a similar consistency for all glass powders. I myself eyeball the viscosity, but the point is clear. If you have a paste that is too liquidy while another is too thick, and you place them next to one another, after fusing the liquidy paste will disappear to reveal holes in the work. For this piece I used a thick paste. Very thick, very very thick sour cream. This picture was made after the first fusing, as you can see, there are many holes. As a result, I increased the thickness of the paste and the density of the brush strokes. What to do with the holes? Fill them up with a new layer of paste. 

Just as well, I kept track of which powder colours I used. I only work with Bullseye glass.

Why did I need five firings? Technically, you can make do with two. First, to understand the colours and the density of the brush strokes. And the second, for the final fusing. But I had the opportunity to do intermediate fusings, it was interesting to see how the colours of the powders changed. 

I also enjoy seeing the backside of the piece. Moreover, I sign my work with glass powder of the reverse side.

15 Years of Creativity in Glass; Retrospective of Works

Hello. Thanks for finding the time to take a look at my blog. I would like to offer you to visit my personal virtual exhibition dedicated to 15 years of my creativity in glass. I would like to introduce you to my art. I put together the best of my work to reflect the growth of my artistic mindset. You will see the source of my inspiration and the finished products. I hope you find it interesting and beautiful. 

15 years, I have worked with glass. 15 years of life, passion, rejection and tenderness. First I would like to present to you a piece that I finished in December 2018. Here you can see a fused panel of glass that is 6mm thick with a textured surface. The drawing is made with glass powder. This piece is titled Irises, inspired by Van Gogh. 29 x 35 cm. In the present, I think this is my best work with fusing. I developed the technique for drawing with glass powder and the story of it is here. 

Van Gogh was chosen as a source of inspiration due to the fact that he was bipolar. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in December 2014. Since then, I have been depressed for a four years. To my astonishment, I have come out of depression thanks to my Irises. I worked on drawing Irises for half a year when Van Gogh painted his in two days. The story of how my Irises came about is here. 

I spent 70 hours in total creating the Irises during the 6 months that I have worked on them. Not much in half a year, but that is just my tempo at the moment. Now my momentum will increase since I am in love with glass again. During these 6 months I have come from depression to be inspired all the time and to be constantly thinking about glass... I never expected this. This is the might of beauty and art therapy. 

“I put my heart and soul into my work” that I am now presenting to you (Van Gogh). 
 I will be presenting my work from the very beginning of my artistic career to present day. What made each work challenging? What did I learn through every piece? What was the source behind my inspiration? 

I am a self-taught artist having finished a two-day stained glass workshop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada way back in 2003. Since then my life has changed drastically with regards to the countries and cities I have lived in. I understand that there are people out there that have experienced a greater change, but this is a lot from my perspective in terms of creating, moving, recreating and moving my glass shop again. In the last 15 years, I have had eight different glass shops. And throughout all this I have been stubbornly working on my glass, living with my glass, dreaming of my glass and fanaticized over my glass. It is an obsession. At one point in time I thought that I was completely done with it, but now I am back! 

Back in 2003, after the two-day workshop, I instantly wanted to create a large stained glass piece to put into the library we had in our home. This piece had more than 200 pieces. An overwhelming task for a complete amateur. I altered the design of an elephant by adding a blanket and a hat to the original design and I was very proud of myself. 

In 2004, the Divine Beauty came about. Before its creation, I was looking at photos of hundreds of other stained glass works and saw one captured me with its lines and composition but not its colour scheme. 

Thus, I decided to change the colour and make some changes to the overall composition. After I finished this piece, I could not take my eyes away from it for hours on end. I could not believe that I was capable of creating something like this. What is interesting is that when our home caught fire in 2006, I later came back into our burnt house to find a melted wall, the window in the kitchen shattered, frost and snow behind the shattered window and my Divine Beauty hanging there without a scratch on it. 

 In 2004, I heard music in the glass. One year after my work with glass I gained some insight. This feeling kept coming back to me throughout the years and I would constantly think about the music within the glass. This year, I created three stained glass pieces; though I had taken apart one of them and remake it since I was unhappy with my choice of colour. My source of inspiration for these three pieces was a drawing by my sister Galina Og. These three pieces together are called Musical Improvisations.

You will undoubtedly see a clock that gives off a rhythm. But I associate the colour of the glass to the waltz from the ballet of the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. This piece is called Winter Dream. 

 This piece is titled Jazz and sounds like Summertime by Ella Fitzgerald. 

 And finally Tango, a beautiful glass piece filled with passion. 

 In 2005, I made Scarlet Sails. I found a beautiful piece of glass in which I saw the sea, the sky and the sun.

 Everything that is necessary for a background. And I like sailing ships very much. Aside from this, I had wonderful glass to use for the scarlet sails. Respectively, I created my own design and so came about the Scarlet Sails which I put in our living room. At the same time, I was making many stained glass gifts for my many friends in Calgary.

 Towards the end of 2005, I decided that I would create my own rose window of my own design. I was studying symbolism and started to draw my own custom designs. At the same time, my calm life was falling apart around me. My home had already burnt down in January 2006, I had problems with my health and I was in the middle of a divorce... But I still continued to work on my glass. The Harmony of the World is a piece that was being designed and cut between 2006 and 2007 upon the remnants of my previous life in Calgary, but was only soldered and put together in Montreal where I moved in 2008 after living in New York for one year. The Harmony of the World was designed to be mounted as a “fireplace” and I spent many evenings in front of this piece. More information about The Harmony of the World can be read about here. What is Harmony for me? Whilst working on this piece, I knew that I wanted to become a glass artist and I am following this path since then. 

 Now we are in 2008. This year was a turning point for me because at the end of the year I finally decided that I have done enough research into fusing glass that I was ready to create my very own fused glass piece. I walked into a glass store and stumbled onto some glass. Naturally, I saw this glass and I understood in that moment that I wanted to create a piece with eastern ornamentalism. I searched on Google and came across an artist called Hassan Musa that makes stunning calligraphy. 

 I fell in love with Musa’s tiger and in turn I made my own and called him Beast. I rented out a glass shop and in a couple days I cut myself the pieces that would make up the Beast. Apart from that, I was very interested in the idea of how I could draw with glass frit (glass fragments of different sizes). Respectively, I took up a hammer and started making my own custom glass frit. Beast was officially my very first fusing piece and I love him very much. On either side of the piece you can see bamboo trees made from glass frit. 

Later in 2009, I made Frozen Flower where I used the same colour scheme as in the portrait painting of Anna Akhmatova by Nathan Altman (1914). 

I love this work. Later this piece became the central part of another work called Flow (2012). Jumping ahead, I will say that Flow came into my head and was cut all in one night after some awful stress. This is how I relieved my stress. 

 Starting in 2009 and until the end of 2012, I started to develop my very own custom fusing technique where I could draw the finest lines with glass powder. I was never really attracted to vases or any other conventional fused glass pieces. I wanted to draw paintings, manuscripts, icons and tapestries in glass. To draw with glass. During this time, my mind was constantly thinking about fusing. I tried different approaches, different temperature profiles but I only started to display my work in November 2012. 

 Still in 2009, I was thinking about drawing and creating my own mandala and so that it retained the idea of rotating. It is a complicated process trying to create a such a stained glass piece, but I enjoyed the process immensely. As you can see, the border changes colour continuously and this happens four times. This should show movement and in turn spin the piece. Sunrise Flower, 2009-2010. 

 2010. Leo. This is my first mosaic glass on glass. The basis of the mosaic is a sheet of glass that is meant to give the piece the effect of being translucent glass, as in a stained glass window, but the techniques used are that of a mosaic. For the first time I worked with a saw. The details and story about Leo can be found here. Here I will tell you that I tried to create an almost portrait like representation of a specific person, my post-graduate teacher. He was very dear to me and means a lot to me. So this mosaic was an important piece and required the full extent of my ability working with glass. I placed Leo (lion) in a very complex environment and by the way, bipolar. 

 And so Leo possesses an unbelievable fortitude and charisma for him to pass through this enclosed space. There are even portals opening up from his footsteps. There is hope. 

 2010. While thinking about mandalas, circles and the questions surrounding movement, I decided to create a sphere as a window in the wall. But first I needed to work on the sphere which started to show its three-dimensional aspect almost instantly. I found myself this sphere on Google and tried my hand at drawing some symmetry on it. It worked. 

If you take a look at the colouring of the sphere, you will find many different symmetries and different circular movement. Let me remind you, this is a flat stained glass piece. 

 This sphere has been placed in two different environments. At first, it was placed as a window in the wall in 2010. The idea is that the sphere is meant to represent a window while the surrounding space is meant to be a wall. 

But I was not as charmed as I thought I would be from this finished piece and in the end I took it apart and the sphere was free once again. Afterwards, I ended up moving again and once more I remade my glass shop. And the sphere in the year of 2011 found a place for itself in the sky, around it started spinning cubes that would fall to the ground, and would create an amazing ornament of human lives. You can find out more about this piece here. This piece is titled Ornamental Fantasy. I think this is the best stained glass piece I have made so far. 

 In 2011, I made another three-dimensional stained glass piece based on Sphere by Maurice Escher. 

And this is another attempt at making the same piece but in the year 2017. 

 Having made Ornamental Fantasy, I decided that I needed to create a couple more mosaics. 2012. And I worked on these two oncoming pieces practically at the same time. But my first baby was the Rhinoceros and then came Atlantis. The Rhinoceros is called Ways of Imagination and there is a story of it here. On this note, I will say that Rhinoceros was inspired by Albrecht Durer’s Rhinoceros (1515) who actually never laid his eyes upon the real creature. Durer drew what he could not see and made a lithograph out of it. 

I wanted to create a mosaic out of his lithograph and to figure out the colour scheme. I have been suspecting for a while that the universe has been providing me with the necessary glass to create my glass art. So, the glass used in the horn of the rhino was meant to be used as the horn of my rhino. Thus, the Rhinoceros turned out to be as if he was alive. This is once again a mosaic with glass on glass and can be illuminated from behind. Some of the glass used for the Rhinoceros is obsolete and is no longer being fabricated. This in turn means that the Rhinoceros is an anthem to glass and no doubt my best mosaic. 

 The next mosaic created in 2012 was called Atlantis or Broken Infinity, a tribute to my interest for esotericism and thinking about how fragile our civilization tends to be. You can read more about this mosaic here. Let me tell you that I designed every single piece to convey the “secret writings” of the gods. For multiple years I collected blue glass for this mosaic. Once again, this mosaic is glass on glass. 

 2012 was a very productive year in terms of my glass production. I was very close in my search for techniques on how I could create coloured paintings with glass powder. Yes, for 4 years I could not reach the point where I could get my glass powder to do what I wanted it to do. The glass powder is stubborn and each colour had its own characteristics that I needed to adhere to. You can find more information about the nuances of this glass powder technique here. And finally in November 2012, I created my Bestiary or Medieval Zoo. You can find more info about the Bestiary here. I will show only one piece. They look exactly how I imagined them to be. They are very pleasant to touch, they are smooth and have a little bit of a relief. I was happy!!! This is the result of several years of searching. This meant that I could finally start recreating my favourite works from medieval manuscripts. The Bestiary is an endless series, although I returned back to it only once more. 

A new era started in my art. In it I am trying to create beautiful, decorative and artistic glass. I have never seen this type of work done with glass before. 

 In December 2012, I made another important piece, God the Geometer from a 13th century manuscript. 

I was nervous about creating a drawing of the Creator. You can find more information about God the Geometer here. 

 The task in these works is to recreate them so that they look as close as possible to the original all the while trying to show off the beauty of the glass. I am a kinesthetic. It is very important for me to touch. With my fused glass, it is so easy; you can lick it if you want to, it is ecologically friendly. 

 I am interested in the question what does an artist feel when they create an artwork? I want with every brush stroke to find the state of mind that is not only meditative but to also try to hear the artists and creators who draw the pictures in the manuscripts, who draw the icons, the paintings and made the designs in the tapestries. My glass powder technique is very fine and requires perseverance and many long hours of work. In these hours, there is hardly anything that I do not think about. This leads me to appreciate my work even more. I feel like a musician who is performing the play of a composer. 

 Let us return the the story of my works. The year is 2013. Many works and experiments were done with fusing this year. From fusing, I note the work of the Prophet Elijah based off an icon from the 17th century. 

 A series of medieval grotesques. 

 Tapestry of the Lady with Unicorn. The original tapestry was made in 16th century and was 5 x 4 m. I tried to represent all the flowers, berries and apples on my own glass tapestry which was 50 x 40 cm. 

 The Prophet Elijah and Lady with Unicorn required many hours of work. Someone made for me a special angled lightbox and I organized for myself my own scriptorium. 

 You can find more information about my works done in 2013 here. The Grotesques can be found here. The Lady with Unicorn can be found here. 

 There is another work done in 2013 called the Alphabet of the Universe. It is quite important. Firstly, I experimented with it during its production. Secondly, it was the first piece that was purchased from me. Thirdly, I tried to find the bottom boundary in terms of how thin could I work with my glass powder. To this day, this is the finest work I have done. I have not managed to create thinner lines or digits since then. I was working with the thinnest needle that my hand could hold. 

 I just want to say that the photos do not convey how charming the work is. You can see the details, colour but hardly see the light relief that exists in nearly all of my fused glass pieces.

In 2013, I made a stained glass panel called Music. I took all the translucent glass I have collected over the years and cut them up. I would cut them and set them out how the music directed me to. I was curious myself as to what would happen. The story of the creation of Music can be found in the Russian version of my blog here. 

In 2014, I created the largest glass piece to this day of my artistic career, The Dance of Universe (185 x 125 cm). This piece is an impromptu and I had to create it fast. There exists a concept here, and I am not afraid to use this word. Not counting the fact that you see the starry night sky, the piece is about me, my son and my youth. Within this piece, there is an exact copy of the tectonic map of the world with glass frit. The story of this piece is being written along with this post... 4 years after its creation. The story of The Dance of the Universe can be found in Russian here. In the story there is many photos of its production as well as its presentation. I presented this piece along with many other of my works in the international art festival “Maple Leaves” and my first personal exhibition in Vandart gallery in September 2014. 

 I gave a performance. The art is for you, touch it. 

 I need to say a couple words about my son with regards to my work. He bravely accompanied me through my adventures. He heard out all my ideas. He listened carefully and asked questions. He hammered the glass to create frit at the dawn of my experiments. He knows of all my explorations to find new techniques in glass. He knows that I am in a constant search and can sometimes only talk about and discuss my own art. And still he listens, delves into and continues to ask questions. He gives advice when he can. He helped write this post in English. And he is also learning to become a creative programmer. I am a very proud mother. 

 And of course I continue my work with glass powder in the year of 2014. I will mention that this is the start of the series with medieval cities and towns from the Nuremberg Chronicles (1493). Within this series, I created a Rose, Yellow and Orange town. The Orange town is a repetition of the same theme; it was made in 2017. What is interesting is that the hand works a lot easier with repetition; it already knows where to start, how to work fast and all the secrets of the technique. You can find the story of these towns here. 

 I created a series of decorative plates and they turned out not bad. Here I present to you, Eyes. I made Eyes already twice and the facial expressions was different both times, it is quite interesting. 

 There exists also a sailing ship. Here I tried to convey air and sea and the lightness of a flying ship. I had a beautiful piece of glass. Unfortunately, the original picture was not saved. This ship is the HMS Victory flagship of Admiral Nelson. 

 Several works were also made at the end of 2014. Of these works, I would like to mention the Samurai Girl and Sunflower. Watch how, the samurai girl dances on the falling sunflower leaves. I was simultaneously inspired by two works of art, Sunflowers by Van Gogh and the drawing of a Samurai by my sister that is meant to be me which I hold very dear to me. The drawing of me by my sister Galina Og, represents me in the image of a samurai girl, it is titled My Sister Warrior. I am about to tell the story of Samurai Girl and show my ideas this way through glass. This is a future series of work.

 Another work about music towards the end of 2014. Glenn Gould (famous Canadian musician and pianist). Here he sits on his infamous chair and is playing Beethoven’s sonatas that were playing during the creation of this piece. I call it The Musician. Here I used a different technique. You can find the story in Russian about this technique here.

Another work also at the end of 2014. The Burning of the Library of Alexandria. This work was created in a period of incredible stress. The candle and flame are volumetric thus granting them a relief. 

 At the end of 2014 I was hospitalized and diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Right after the hospital, in March of 2015, I created two mosaics but I will only show one. It is called The Red Dot. I recreated a photo of myself where I am 25, sitting and smoking a tough Russian cigarette (Belomorkanal) in front of the Arctic Ocean during my time as a geologist in my beloved Arctic. The thoughtfulness in this picture is very me. In general this is how I see myself. I think I managed to successfully convey this thoughtfulness. 

 Afterwards were years of depression. The making of glass was lethargic and I had no enthusiasm at all. At one point in time I thought that I would give up glass permanently. 

 In early 2018, I created a fused piece called Japanese Garden. 

 And so, here are my Irises in the year 2018. A difficult work. I have dreamed for ten years about creating these Irises with glass. I tried to capture the rhythm of Van Gogh. How did he paint it? There are two rhythms within Irises by Van Gogh; the rhythm of the leaves and the irises themselves. It seems to me I managed to create a living piece. I am very happy that I have my Van Gogh. 

 I say in conclusion. 

 What do I want to tell you after these 15 years? Was it worth not sleeping the nights and to constantly think about glass? You will not believe it, but it was worth it. This is an incredibly exciting process of creativity and the gaining of mastery. I am not going to talk about inspiration, because if you feel it once, you will never mistake it for anything ever again. I would like to note that I feel a moral satisfaction from the work that I have done. I dedicated myself fully to my art, achieved my own goals; it was very exciting. 

 I do not know why glass has had such an impact on my life. I never thought that I would walk the path of an artist, but for the past ten years it has been my main activity. Every time I work with glass, my hand is lighter, my music is finer and my work is better. 

 With pleasure I have shown you my art work. Too bad not in person. Thanks for your time and attention. 

 If you have any thoughts and opinions, you can write to me.
juliartglass@gmail.com