Facing the Unknown. XII-2023

 

I would like to show you my project, which didn't quite turn out as planned and will have a continuation. It's called "Facing the Unknown" (2023, December). The original image and plot are taken from the Spanish manuscript Beatus Silos Apocalypse 1091-1109. In the original, the plot is rather eerie - a red dragon of the Apocalypse wants to devour a child from a pregnant woman dressed in solar garments. I have a fondness for medieval manuscripts and have dozens of works from various manuscripts made with powdered glass.


Suddenly, I wanted to become the heroine of this picture and attempt to tame the dragon. The shield held by the woman in the picture inspired me. I have my stained glass "Sunrise Flower" (2010), which has the shape of a shield and of which I am proud. It's my emblem. I decided to stylize myself in the main role. With silver hair and a rather plump figure, I left the silhouette, removed the hood, and stood before the dragon with uncovered silver hair. The dragon didn't expect anything like that, and all its heads stared at me in curiosity. I started sprinkling luminous crumbs of coloured glass before me, which put the dragon into a humble state. That's my plot.

I love the delicate work of powdered glass; I've been using this my own technique for eleven years. But I've never done anything thinner than my own shield. I redone it eight (!) times. It's the best my hand could do. Believe me, it's very delicate work. I apply small details on the front, and color them on the back. The thickness of the layer of glass powder is approximately 4-5 mm, and I fused it in one go. Unfortunately, there are bubbles on the edges of the work. The woman, that is, me, turned out well. The dragon has bubbles.

But the miniature, 6.5" x 8.5", is simply charming. I really like it. I decided to create three identical miniatures and test them on different thermal profiles to find the best one. The experiment will be called "Taming the Apocalypse Dragon."

 

Medieval grotesques.

This is a series of fused glass works which are based off the illustrations from a 13th century manuscript called Queen Mary Psalter (from the British Library - Royal 2B VII).

These are drawings done by Queen Mary Master. All of them are "bas-de-page" drawings, but to me they deserved center stage. 

Lovers. Fused glass. 2014. 22 x 14 cm.  (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 138v)

Men fighting against a dragon. Fused glass. 2014 ((BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 186v)

Grotesque-knight.  Fused glass. 2014. 21 x 16 cm (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 141)

Musician. Fused glass. 2014. 16 x 10.5 cm (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 192v)

Knight and snails. Fused glass. 2014.  20 x 15 cm (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 148)

Musicians. Fused glass. 2014 (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 193)

Grotesques fight with each other. Fused glass. 2013. (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 136)

Musicians. Fused glass. 2013 (BL Royal 2B VII, fol. 193v.) 

God the Geometer.

God the Geometer (from the medieval manuscript Bible moralisée, 1220-1230, France).

 Fused glass powder painting. December 2012.

Would it be interesting to know how everything was created? According to some religions – God created everything twice. The first approach was not successful. God did not like it…

There is something in this version that seems very interesting…

According to the Bible it took God six days to create the world…

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”  So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:1-9)

When I saw this painting from the medieval manuscript, called the Bible moralisée which dates back in 1220… I thought it would not be technically possible to create it with glass.

I knew that if I was to create this God the Geometer, I would only get one chance. The importance of this piece for me is such, which you have to do it to the best of your ability. When you are heading into the subject of Creating Worlds you are responsible for the Beauty of the Creation.

I did not know how to make the folds on the robe – technically, it was probably the biggest challenge for me in this project. I wanted the blue dress to look light on Him and aerie and at a same time to show the movement of God’s step. I wanted the reddish chiton to look …aged. At a same time I wanted to have a feeling of there being real folds in his attire. In the glass piece, the lighter folds are actually higher than the darker ones to give the effect of flowing folds.

When I was doing this work – I was trying to think what I would be thinking if I was Creating the World. I would definitely do lots of preliminary thoughts, sketches and measurements. If I was creating worlds myself, I would find it very convenient to have a compass J

Medieval Zoo collection.

Medieval Zoo collection. November 2012.
Collection of fused glass miniatures (frit painting) from medieval manuscripts. 

For some reason I have a very close connection to medieval arts. Many years ago I was learning how to weave tapestries and then I learned stained glass. I also love different types of art, which flourished in medieval time. I also adore manuscripts - hand written books with beautiful pictures.

Illuminated manuscripts are called illuminated, because thin leafs of gold were used to illuminate, to enhance, to highlight the beautiful miniatures. And the word miniature is coming from red paint, which was commonly used for paintings in manuscripts. This red paint called minium.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/HC24-obspfOHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wl7gPDAelY&feature=relmfuI

I was dreaming for a long time hoping that one day I will be able to make at least something from any medieval manuscript. Whatever image, it doesn’t really matter, but I wanted to see how these hand painted pictures from the manuscripts with vellum pages would look if I make them in glass, just glass. I wanted to add the charm of glass, texture and relief to a painting…

So at some point I bought a book about illuminated manuscripts from the collection of the Morgan Library in New York. I saw pictures from the medieval manuscript called The Worksop* Bestiary. Oh, how I wanted to make them! (*It’s spelled correctly) 

So I tried the very first one – lions breathe life into cubs… I did not understand why the lions are doing that but the beauty of the picture, its style, was the most important part to me. 

And I did my research at the same time. I came up with quite a few digital databases of Manuscripts and one outstanding site about Bestiaries only.

http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/allCollections

http://utu.themorgan.org/index.cfm

http://bestiary.ca/index.html

I don’t want to repeat all the information from that brilliant site, I just want to say that Bestiaries are not just books about animals, but the main feature that all the beasts and   their behaviour have in common is that they all have an interpretation in the Christian moral.

So I did my lions… and I realized, yes it is very close to actual manuscript picture. I want to make sure that my glass powder is capable for such precise work.

After that I made my own Medieval Zoo. It was fused in November 2012.  

My Medieval Zoo is a collection of beasts from different Bestiaries from the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Most of them are from English manuscripts but there is one from Persia.

I was trying to make as close copies as possible but at a same time I wanted to enhance the manuscript pictures with the extra features from the glass.

There is a manager in the zoo, the Satyr. And there are different species – fish, animals and birds. The information about manuscript and the short description of the beast is written around the actual glass work. The text is also written using glass powder.

THERE IS NO PAINT in my works – I am using glass only. ONLY GLASS.

Here’s my Medieval Zoo. I hope you enjoy my story and my beasts.

Satyr: From medieval manuscript c.1185, England, MS M.81, fol. 20v. Half-men creature with tail hold thyrsus.

Hedgehog:  From medieval manuscript c.1185, England, MS M.81, fol.10v. A beast that rolls on grapes and apples to put them on its sharp quills and carry them home. 

Griffin: From medieval manuscript c.1230-1240, England, Harley MS 4751, fol. 7v. A beast with body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle holds a hooved animal.

Saw Fishes: From medieval manuscript c.1300, England, GKS 3466 8^o (Bestiaire), fol 43v.  A creatures with enormous wings that like to race with sails ships. Left sawfish is going for race, right one is tired and returned to sea.

Saw Fish: From medieval manuscript c.1185, England,  MS M.81, fol.69r. Sawfish is a sea monster with enormous wings that likes to race with sails ships. Its wings hold back wind from the ships. 

Elephants: From medieval manuscript c.1230, England, Royal MS 12F, xiii, fol. 11v. A beast with no knee joints, so when it falls it can’t get up. It sleeps leaning against a tree.  Soldiers built wooden towers on elephants back and fight from there. 

Simurgh: From medieval manuscript “Benefits of Animals” 1297-1300, Maragheh, Iran, MS M.500, fol.55r. Gigantic winged creature, staying in the island surrounded by water

Peacock: From medieval manuscript c.1185, England, MS M.81, fol.57r. Self-satisfied bird with a terrible voice. 

Rhinoceros: From medieval manuscript  “Benefits of Animals” 1297-1300, Maragheh, Iran, MS M.500, fol.4m. 

Cranes: From medieval manuscript c.1225-1250, England, MS Bodley 764, fol.62r. They fly in order with the leader. At night their guard holds a stone to wake himself up.