Yesterday I took down my Equilibirum exhibition!

 

'Equilibrium' was my final degree show piece following three years (four, if I was to count my Foundation Degree) of studing Glass & Ceramics at Sunderland University.

 

The seven piece installation was inspired by mindfullness, mandalas and the Chakras.

I used mindfullness to draw mandalas on the kiln shelf using glass powder and a paint brush to move the powder about.  Once I was happy with the result I shut the kiln lid and allowed the heat to draw the glass in what every direction it wanted to go forming an abstract webbed mandala.

 

These pieces were then used in the hot shop and encased within a large ball of beautifully clear glass, which I fondly named 'Mandala Orbs'. The Orbs represent calm, clarity, order and wholeness.   To juxtapose the Orbs I then went about researching what each Chakra point meant to me, creating a base that had a narrative that worked around the Orb.  For the bases I worked with sandcasted technques, alongside fused glass, kiln cast glass and waterjet cut glass to give me the shapes I required for each sculpture.

 

The Root Chakra was to symbolise how our family ties affect us, how we are contained and restrained by them, yet also comforted and embraced alongside.

 

The Sacral Chakra was a narrative around my own personal issues within that area and the hysterectomy that followed.

 

The Solar Plexus Charka was a big ball of sunshine, radiating out towards others. I believe that being happy makes other people happy too in a contagious type of way.

 

The Heart Chakra was created to signify a heart hugging the Orb, holding it tightly while having scars of betrayal and happy memories within it.

 

The Throat Chakra is another personal one, the 'butterfly wings' that many people see when viewing it are in fact Thyroid Glands, and the narrative is one surrounding cancer diagnosis.

 

The Third Eye Chakra is sat upon a piece of mirror which encourages the viewer to self-reflect. The eye on a stalk is to suggest looking at things from a different angle can give different results.

 

The Crown Chakra is based on my recent (at the age of 55) diagnosis of ADHD - suddenly a lot of things made sense making it much easier for me to self-forgive my mad moments of impulsiveness.  The piece is made up from spiky little pieces of glass which I fondly call 'Brain Farts' alongside 'Drops of Clarity' which represent my hyperfocus moments.

 

These pieces can be seen in more detail in my gallery section.