THE STORY OF GLASS

In the first week of June 1984, I began work on a painting entitled Ancient Faces - The Great Leap. Two Canvases, a pole vaulter from Muybridge and an image of a stone sculpture with a photo of earth collaged over it. The two stacked canvases formed a sculptural off center T shape. The composition was strong but the empty rectangles of space below the top canvas need an expression of some kind to fill that element.

As if falling out of nowhere the idea to add mosaic occurred and persisted.

But I had no material to create mosaic from so I left the studio and walked north on Western Avenue with a bag to collect what I could find. There was next to nothing but I kept heading north and at University Street reached an excavated site with ancient ruins from a previous era.

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The search was all consuming even though the results were meager but I persisted as the area I was coming to had some sort of magnetic attraction. I supposed I was looking for broken glass. I might just have been out for a walk in the sun but I held onto the determination of discovery. I walked around on the dirt and rubble and soon came across a piece of tile. That was unexpected and while I rubbed it clean and wondered if there were more a spark of light caught my attention from a pile of dirt and rocks nearby.

Like a lighthouse calling a lost ship I headed toward the beacon. It was a shard of glass that was even more unusual than the piece of tile. The glass was smooth on the face with a raised deign on the back. Incredibly unique!

I found more shards in the pile which seemed to be littered with uncounted number of different types, colors and textures of glass and tile. This was somewhat beyond belief and possibility that I had found the treasure of my hearts desire that was a perfect fit for the materials needed to complete the painting.

THE HISTORIC BUILDING THAT OCCUPIED THE SITE

THE DIG

THE UNEXPECTED AMAZING DISCOVERY