Optical Glass Sculptures by fine art glass artist Jack Storms - The Glass Sculptor

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• published: 04 Aug 2014
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This video will tell you all about the cold glass process I use to make my work. I hope you enjoy it and please share if you do! Website: http://www.jackstorms.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stormsart Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackhstorms Instagram: http://instagram.com/stormsjack Both a tremendous athlete and a motivated student growing up in New Hampshire, it wasn’t until later in life that Jack discovered his passions in contemporary art and graduated at age 30 from Plymouth State University with a BA in Art focusing primarily on studio production. It was during his junior year there that he happened upon what would eventually become an entryway to his legacy, the studio of a glass artist that was close to his school where he was producing a phenomenally rare style of glass art work combining lead crystal and dichroic glass using a cold-glass process. The process itself which required several weeks to produce even one completed glass sculpture was incredibly intense and physically challenging, and the number of glass artisans working in this form of fine art could be counted on one hand. Working side by side with the artisan for over a year, Jack learned every component and facet of this incredibly challenging and rare art form and eventually was a strong enough sculptor to branch out on his own in 2004 and open Storm Works Studios. Both challenged and inspired by having been told that his vision was impossible, one of Jack’s first major accomplishments as an independent glass artist was to invent and design a cold-working lathe that offers him the ability to turn glass and sculpt shapes with curves and details like one would produce from a wooden medium. Early memories of studying his father’s craftsmanship as he worked for hours in his own studio with a wooden lathe provided him with the blueprint of his vision, and his intense drive and deeply embedded passion as a glass artist combined with the inspiration that came from the idea of pioneering new trails in the world of fine art motivated him toward this remarkable accomplishment. The intense cold-glass process which can take up to 24 weeks for each contemporary glass sculpture to come to life begins at the heart of the design, by creating a core of lead crystal which is cut, polished and laminated creating reflective mirrors. When wrapped in optical glass, the refraction of light as it passes through the glass creates rainbows of hypnotic color. The drawn out process of repetitive cutting, grinding and polishing requires intense passion, rigid self discipline, and more blood sweat and tears than any artisan could wrap their mind around. The results, are mind boggling works of contemporary glass art. Drawing inspiration from both his heart and his mind when conceiving his artistic designs, at the heart of each lead crystal sculpture by Jack Storms lays the theory of Fibonacci, a great mathematician that articulated the natural math seen in nature. Natural beauty is created, not manufactured. From the repetition florets of a flower to the scales of a pineapple’s skin, Fibonacci numbers are found in the pattern of growth of every living thing in nature. In spite of the intense natural talent born to Jack’s very talented hands, it was only a couple of years after the opening of Storm Works Studios that Jack found himself desperately seeking some amazing source of inspiration to keep him producing his incredibly beautiful and artistically brilliant glass sculptures. It was in true fairytale love story form that the serendipitous hand of fate brought him a beautiful princess that would rescue him from himself. True love brought Jack to his wife Vivian, and Vivian brought Jack through his stormy weather helping him find his inspiration again, and jumping in feet first to completely support Jack’s dreams and everything that meant to StormWorks Studio’s allowing Jack’s glass studio to flourish. A match made in heaven, Jack and Vivian married and brought their son Owen into the world. Jack’s complex heart and deeply rooted emotions make him an exemplary caretaker for his family, who are the driving force behind his creative inspiration. Only one muse inspired glass sculpture in Jack’s collection, the Viviovo sculpture beams with radiant light and colors from within having been modeled after the intense beauty and fire burning within his wife Vivian.