Roxanne Taylor

Artist Statement

Art is the gateway to the soul.  I create in order to explore deeper aspects of my self and to share a part of that deeper self with others.  Every art form has its own unique way of opening a magical door into the territory of the self.  I have experienced photography as a breathing in of visual information.  Painting is the exhalation of expression.  Hot Glass is a purely sensual and aesthetic experience.  Through the rod that I am using, I feel the push, flow, and movement of molten glass, while it allows me to explore beauty for its own sake.

Biography

After spending many years raising three lively children and doing art on the side, I finally decided to go back to school for some formal training.  In 2000 I earned  my BFA from the Metropolitan State College of Denver where I studied painting, photography, and ceramics (and psychology, which was my minor) My education provided an understanding of color, composition, and design, which became an invaluable foundation when I discovered a passion for the fluid qualities of glass. 

Fast forward to 2001, where a search for unusual beads for some jewelry projects I was working on led to a bead making class with Cindy Brown of Cindybeads.   Since I embarked on this journey into fire and glass, I have had the wonderful fortune of taking classes from some other fabulous bead makers, including Patty Walton, Al Janelle, Ginny Sycuro, and Corrina Tettinger.

These days I am a full time bead maker, which means I squeeze in as much time melting glass as I can between all the other demands of running a small business.  I also teach bead making classes.

Currently, I live in Denver, Colorado.

Process

The tip of a glass rod is introduced slowly into a highly concentrated flame until it reaches a semi liquid state, which can then be wrapped onto a coated steel mandrel.  Additional colors of glass, pre-made elements, silver, palladium, gold leaf, pigmented mica powders, and enamels are layered to create intricate designs.  Heat, gravity and a variety of tools are used to shape the piece.  Surface texture and design may then be added.  Each bead or bottle becomes an intimate three-dimensional glass painting.  While still hot, the finished piece is placed in a kiln, where the entire piece of glass is allowed to reach an even temperature, and the molecules realign themselves into a stable formation.  This process, called annealing, removes stress in the glass that would otherwise cause it to crack. It is then cooled over several hours.

Designing jewelry is the means of presentation for these miniature art forms.  Yet, each piece of jewelry becomes its own work of art.  In combination with silver, gold fill, gold, semiprecious stones, Austrian crystal, and other glass beads, my glass creations become the focus of unique, distinctive, wearable art.