As artistic mediums go, fiber and glass are quite different from each other. Fabric is usually considered soft, flexible, and impervious to breaking while glass is often perceived as firm, rigid, and fragile. One way in which these two mediums are similar is that they can both be fused. Glass fusing is the process of joining compatible sheet glasses together in a kiln until the glass becomes one. Fusing of fabric requires ironing an adhesive to the back of one fabric then fusing it on to another piece of fabric.
“Being able to fuse fabric was a game changer for me,” says Geisel. “Now I’m not limited to squares, triangles, and rectangles found in traditional quilt blocks. The fabric doesn’t have to be pieced with seams; it can be placed randomly.” Gray added, “Fused glass has changed my love for working with glass. Being a stained-glass artist over 20 years and now making fused glass for over 10 years has allowed me to create functional glass art.”
"Chasing Geese," (left) glass by Sara Gray, 12" x 12" and (right) art quilt by Pam Geisel, 20" x 20"
To make the exhibit a true collaboration, they each made pieces based on the other’s art. Gray made a fused art glass piece based on Geisel’s “Chasing Geese” art quilt. When Gray shared photos of pieces she made for the exhibit, Geisel was immediately drawn to Gray’s piano keyboards with rainbow colors. Geisel states “I knew immediately that I also wanted to make a keyboard using hand-dyed fabric in the colors of the rainbow.” Geisel was also inspired by Gray’s square and rectangular plates that had different colored flowers that each had six green leaves. “Pam used yarn for her stems, and I used glass stringers for mine.”
“When we first started working on making pieces for this exhibit, we realized that we’d already been collaborating for many years,” Gray said. Not only have they made custom artwork for each other, they both have been members of Village Artisans for over a decade, with Geisel joining in June of 2012 and Gray shortly after in December of 2012. For several years both women have coordinated the co-op’s annual art festival, Art on the Lawn, although it goes back further than that, when they both coordinated the Glen Helen Nature Arts and Crafts Show from 2006–2011. Previously Geisel coordinated the show with Gray’s mother, Susan Miller. Both Geisel and Gray started selling their art at the 2006 Nature Arts & Crafts Show, with adjacent booth space. “Susan was one of the first people who bought something from me,” said Geisel.”
For “Fused,” the artists focused on using rainbow colors along with the color black. “With both glass and fabric, you have really vibrant colors, but you can’t really mix colors like you can with paint. Instead, it depends on what colors are next to each other and layering colors on top of each other,” said Gray. “And adding black really makes colors pop,” explains Geisel “which is why we wanted to put our focus on that.”
