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Kathleen Elliot, Sun Pods

Technique, medium: Flameworked and sandblasted borosilicate glass

Description: This is another piece in my imaginary botanica series - my imagination of botanical life in alternate realities. In my most recent works I am combining botanical life with other phenomena, in this case, pods of sunlight growing on a vine. This is one of my top 5 favorite pieces. Yellow has been my favorite color since I was a little girl. Any shade, and especially all the bright sunny yellows. I love the form of this piece, the warmth of the yellow, green and brown, the acorn squash shaped pods, the whole piece.

Height (cm): 35.6, Width (cm): 30.5, Depth (cm): 12.7

Photo Credit: Keay Edwards

Biography:
Born in Akron, Ohio, in 1958, Kathleen Elliot has made California her home for 49 years. With her husband’s encouragement and support, she has discovered and developed her artistic talent while raising their five children. In the 1980’s, she expressed her creativity as a hair stylist and make-up artist with a cosmetology degree from San Jose City College. As a staunch believer in life-long education, Kathleen has over twenty-five years of study in philosophy, linguistics and biology, communication, leadership and management, organizational development, the design of business offers, alternative spiritual disciplines, and most recently the arts. With this educational background, she built a 14-year career in designing and managing adult education programs, organizational development and training for various corporations. Kathleen’s interest in glass art began in 1996 when a friend introduced her to flameworking. She taught herself the art of beadmaking by studying how artists had made beads in the photos in glass art books and then experimenting. Kathleen has now worked with glass for thirteen years and is currently engaged in two bodies of work – natural and imaginary botanical sculptures. She has gained recognition and multiple awards including a NICHE Student Award, a NICHE Award, two consecutive People's Choice Awards from the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) in California, a Jurors' Choice Award from BAGI, covers on American Style magazine and World Art Glass Quarterly, a proclamation of commendation from Dolly Sandoval, Mayor of Cupertino, CA, as well as two NICHE Award Finalist honors and nominations for Pilchuck Glass School's Corning Award each year she attended. Kathleen demonstrated some of her techniques at the Glass Art Society conference in Portland, OR, in 2008, and she has been commissioned by the city of San Jose, CA, to make glass sculptures given to foreign officials as diplomatic gifts, including the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, and the Mayor of Okayama, Japan. Kathleen is happily married with three children and two stepchildren, resides and operates a studio in Cupertino, CA.

Artist's statement:
Our American culture is “crazy”. We live in a rush of busyness, hurry, trying to get ahead, achieving the American Dream of being rich and beautiful with perfect children. We are surrounded by advances in technology in every field, with more and more mass-produced and machine-produced products; Hollywood is in our faces every day hyping its surgically altered fantasy of movie stars and the dream of perfection; the fashion industry assails us with its version of what’s sexy now; marketing bombards us everywhere we turn. This milieu produces flatness and dullness, a lack of humanity, creativity and individuality that can seep into our marriages, families, health, and careers. People can forget their own humanity, lose forgiveness and appreciation for themselves and others, lose sight of the opportunities we have to be creative with our own lives. Art returns us to a mood of wonder and appreciation, helps us stay centered in the face of our culture. Its beauty, strength and clarity can be inspiration for us in our own lives. Art reminds us of human virtues and the wonders of Nature. Its richness and depth can inspire us to rise above the mediocrity of drifting in the cultural norm. My own art is inspired by such wonders as the delicacy of flower petals, the patterns of veins in leaves, the sweet golden color of my children’s sleepy faces when they awake in the morning, the shiny blackness of crows, the rich smell of the forest floor, changing colors of autumn leaves, seed pods and acorns – a hundred intricate and intimate moments in a day that can take my breath away if I remember to stop, listen, look around. The purpose of my art is to inspire and remind myself and others that we can be amazed by even the most simple things in life. Allow your breath to be taken away by the beauty of a leaf, allow the intricacy of a flower to remind you of the awesome gift of life, be soothed by the shape of an acorn and the smoothness of its skin, be stunned by the delicate work of art that is a bird’s nest. We are surrounded by astonishing wonders every day. My art reminds us to notice, appreciate and be grateful for them ... and be surprised at what they are and are not. My art reminds us, no matter what we do or what our work is, let us live our lives artfully!