Odalisque Valentine

For Sale here

Traditional display of a female with her arms raised above her head; named the “Odalisque” by Art historians.  A celebration of Love.

Odalisque and Love, symbolized with a heart

When we raise our arms above our head, we reference many things. Honoring ourselves, self confidence, the barbaric female, praise, etc….

In this case, the Goddess is honoring herself, and her Love for herself, or her Love for somebody, or something. The “Odalisque” gesture, being one of the most common depictions of women in art for many, many years.  Here she is, with arms raised above her head, while gently supporting the heart; referencing ‘Love’….

The Odalisque in Love (at auction today)

Thank you for taking the time….

Dichroic glass with an “Odalisque” Goddess…one of a kind

 Dichroic light with a red Goddess on a transparent cobalt blue.

  This bead is sold.

Dichroic glass is metal fused to a piece of glass. I took that and fused it to the bead in the flame, before I sculpted the Odalisque figure on there. The metalic background is magical. LOVE it.

A Goddess…

A small Odalisque Goddess (a copy of a myspace blog)

Every now and then I disciplin myself to do what customers ask for, or friends suggest. This is one of those times.

Right before I lost my hard drive in December; I had a jewelry artists asking me (by e-mail) for buttons with my people on them. I was not really all that pleased with the results at first. I had to adjust the flame for working smaller scale. It was not my “norm”…

I have now a little group of small style beads that could be made into buttons. I may even try making intentional buttons. We’ll see.

First! I need to figure out who was asking me for those buttons. There is a lesson in all this; BACK UP YOUR E-MAIL!!

She is 1” tall.

Releasing a butterfly

This blog (or, really one very similar) was published at Watch me create in July of 2007. I decided to post this here too.

Enjoy!

In the attached picture you can see a flower petal and a butterfly wing.  These are samples of murrini I have made. (If you don’t know, murrini is layers of glass made into a rod that can be sliced to create multiple images. Each slice is the same image. Like a Cinnamon roll; per Loren Stimp ;).) When I was researching the subject, I found that some of the first murrinies were portraits of people (mostly political figures). The portraits were called mosaic glass and they were placed on glass beads. Since then it seams the art of murrini was lost and found over and over (like glass; the “lost art” because it has been lost and found so many times.)  I am fascinated with the history of Art. This history lends some meaning to my art work today.

Releasing a butterfly symbolises a new beginning. So many lost but now re-found techniques with glass are among us.  It fascinates me.

The concept of creating a traditional “odalisque” releasing a butterfly celebrates the beginning of many creations to follow for me, and many others. The landscape is a beautiful day, to further emphasize the dreamy celebration.

The function of the bead , to me, is not as important as the concept and visual beauty of the piece of art.

 FULL CIRCLE~ Celebrating the passion to create.

For additional information please see Sheila Morley’s  Art blog. Sheila’s art work is currently documented in an on line gallery, and can be purchased at her website.