AdammsGallery

Dowdy Opal Jewelry

    

 

  Joanne and Kevin Dowdy have been making opal jewelry since 1983. They became infatuated with opals when they were introduced to them in Australia. They were so enthusiastic that they bought an interest in a boulder opal mine in Queensland. The mine in the tiny outback town of Quilpie is so uninhabitable that the miners live underground because of the severe heat. Kevin spends about three months a year mining opals and brings them back to Tucson where he an Joanne create their magnificent jewelry. The opals were formed millions of years ago when liquid silica filled the voids in ironstone boulders. The opals are cut with the stone from the boulder. The stone gives the opal strength, and also adds to the deep color from the minerals that are present.

  

       In more recent years the Dowdys have begun using Ethiopian opals. The Ethiopian opals are amazingly vibrant and colorful. Truthfully there is no comparison between the boulder opals and the Ethiopian.

          

      The Dowdys use 22kt gold for the settings and 14k for the posts, fittings, and shanks. There workmanship is impecable. All the gold work is smooth and flawless, and their choice and cutting of the opals is top notch. If you, or someone you know is an opal lover Dowdy opals is a no brainer.

 

Dowdy Opal Jewelry is available at Adamm's Stained Glass & Gallery Santa Monica, CA 90401     adammsgqallery.com

Geoffrey Beetem Master Marble maker

    

             New Earth                   Ziggy Stardust Green                Submerso                   Double Rainbow

    

       Ziggy Stardust Fuscha         Ziggy Stardust Green        Ziggy Stardust Orange      Naked Cage Rainbow         

Geoffrey Beetem is considered by many to be the #1 glass marble maker in the United States. Like many glass artists Geoffrey began his journey in a stained glass window studio. His fascination with glass continued when in 1980 he was offered work at the Pilchuk Glass School in Washington State. While at Pilchuk working in the hot shop his eyes were opened to a constant flow of accomplished glass artist such as Billy Morris, Lino Tagliapiertra, Danta Marioni, Dan Daily, and Richard Royal. With such a strong influence he was off and running.

In 1986 he opened his own glass studio, and presented his work for sale at a variety of retail and wholesale craft shows. Geoffrey is never happy unless he can create new designs and color combinations. His marbles are true wonders in art, and amaze children as well as adult aficionados. His designs include rainbow, air traps, clam broth, nebulas, fillagrano, ribbon, new earth, ribbon, stardust, ziggy stardust, and more. In addition to his studio production Geoffrey likes to travel and offer a variety of marble making workshops.

If you like marbles Geoffrey Beetem is the name to remember.

 

Triple Pivot Casement Beveled a & Leaded Glass Windows

Beveled Glass Installation

 

      It has been about one year since one of our long time customers approached us about making a set of triple beveled glass casement windows with a center pivot on each. After much back and forth we finalized a relatively simple rectilinear beveled design.

The difficult part was installing the triple casement. Once again I enlisted the help of the best Handyman, and installer I know, Don Van Cura. Don is in my Networking group Wildfire Networking. I wouldn't do any difficult installation without him. I was able to find a perfect all brass, ball bearing, pivot hinge, from Architectual Resource Center  http://brasswindowhardware.com/and the installation of them appeared to be pretty straight forward.

 

                  window before

 

            We understood how the hinge worked, but it took some time before we agreed how to install them.  The owner of the company that sold the hinges didn't have any help with our particular type of installation. We didn't  have the option of removing the jamb to set the top hinge. We ended up removing the ball bearing on the top hinge, and that gave us the extra room for clearance, and didn't affect the ease of pivot since the weight was on the bottom bearing. We set the hinge into the sash. With the ball bearing hinge the pivot was very smooth.

     We first set the center sash,

                                                                                      cutting detail

  

              routing mortise                                  hinge set

and then trimmed the right sash as we needed. Finally we set the left sash. This was an interior set of windows. It was a divider between the master bath and bedroom.

                                                    mortise in sill

   

         bottom hinge set      mortising top hinge          Don with windows installed

 

     After we finished the installation the owner had the sash stained and finished. A very nice and interesting project.

                

                                 

  

Olive Parker- Montana Leather Designs

    

We represent a number of jewelers in the gallery, but none of them create anything  even close to Olive's work. I had heard of Olive from advertisements she had placed  in literature from wholesale craft shows. I was very interested in seeing her work in person. I attended the American Hand Crafted Show in Philadelphia this past February, and immediately found her. Her display was a real eye catcher. She brought a large assortment of her bracelets, and I was tempted to order all of them. Logic soon returned, and I made a more rational first order.

                                                                     

 

  Olive creates exquisite leather goods, in addition to her bracelets, but I stayed with the bracelets to start. Olive lives in Western Montana. Her bracelets have leather bands, ceramic, or enameled beads, and silver, brass, copper, or zinc clasps and accents. Each one is more beautiful than the next, and all are suitable for men or women. Her clasps are magnetic, which makes them very easy to put on, and are a very intelligent design. I loved all of them, and couldn't be happier with the selection.

David Lotton Art Glass Back At Adamm's Stained Glass & Gallery

     It had been three years since I attended the American Handcrafted Show in Philadelphia. Actually there has been a wholesale craft show there for about 30 years under various names. Originally, and running for about 25 years, was the "Buyers Market of American Craft". That show eventually moved on to Washington, D.C., and ACRE(American Craft Retailers Expo) took advantage of the opportunity and moved into the available dates. Just a few years laterr, the show was sold and became the American Handcrafted Show.

     The show takes place every year for 3-4 days around Valentines day. Not the most favorable time of year to be in Philadelphia. However, Philadelphia is a wonderful city with great museums, entertainment, sports, and especially food. In the past when the economy was booming, and the arts were very popular there were about 1600 artists of all crafts in attendance. The show has dwindled since those days, but has a had a slight resurgence in the past couple of years. This year 2019 there were nearly 500 artists, with many of the older established arts returning, and 30 new emerging arts joining them.

     I am always on the lookout for new artists for the gallery, and artists that are already in the gallery with new work. I had heard from a number of my regular artists that they would be returning. Most of the artists I represent have been in the gallery 20-nearly 40 years, and we are good friends. I love seeing them, going out to dinner, and catching up on their lives. We all have gone through many changes over the past 40 years. Of course my main objective is to bring in work for the gallery, and I was not disappointed in that regard.

     There were many artists to catch up with but I will start with David Lotton.             
                

Large Clematis mixed flower paperweight vase      Free form pulled vase      freeform heart and Vine Vase

                    
Leaf and Vine Sunset Bowl                  Clematis and Hollyhock Paperweight Vase         Organic Sculpture

David wasn't at the show, but his wife Kimberly was, and it was wonderful catching up with the family goings on. David is the son of Charles Lotton a very famous self taught glass blower, and one the the gallery favorites. His brother John was an exceptional glass blower, but decided to retire from glass and now is a home developer. David in addition to being a glass blower is also a farmer and rancher raising Black Angus cows, and growing all kinds of grain. Much of David's work is the same or similar to what he has been producing for many years, and it i still beautiful. I did pick up many of that style, and some new interesting, and more playful art.

    I'll be covering more of the artists and work arriving in the gallery in future blogs.

I hope you enjoy this one.

Restoring Stained Glass Windows at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Santa Monica, CA

           
          J.S.Bach Window before                           J.S. Bach After Restoration  

              

              Door Stained Glass                      Martin Luther Window

Having been located in Santa Monica, CA.  since 1978, and locally since 1972, we have been called upon to restore the stained glass of many local churches, and synagogues. We have worked for Pilgrim Lutheran for over 30 years, mostly doing repairs. Now we have begun a more in depth restoration. We are also updating, and adding to the current protective exterior glazing.

     The current home of Pilgrim Lutheran Church was dedicated in 1953. The more than 50 stained glass windows were hand crafted in Belgium. All the glass is hand blown "antique" glass, whose natural imperfections add to their dazzling beauty. The windows illustrate Biblical scenes, and the life of Christ.

     The church sits on the corner of 18th street and Wilshire Blvd. and gets a considerable amount of foot traffic. For this reason protective acrylic was added to the exterior in the 1970's. Over time the acrylic has hazed and discolored. We are currently replacing the acrylic with 1/4" tempered glass, and adding tempered glass protection to all the windows facing 18th St. We are also repairing, and restoring many of the windows that have suffered damage over the years from vandals, athletics(the church is also hoime to a school), and heat.

     Since the glass is European hand blown glass we have so far been able to get exact matches using Lambert German antique glass available through Bendheim Glass, in New Jersey. Our expert glass painter Mary Orrell, has been exceptional in her restoration abilities, and has provided a flawless recreation of the original pieces. In addition glaziers Alberto Marquez, and Armando Aleman have been doing an impeccable job with the removing, restoration, and installation of the windows. Indeed the Pastor and members of the congregation couldn't be happier. I must also add that they are a true pleasure to work for.

    Check back throughout the year for updates on this project.

 

Michael Trimpol, and Monique LaJeunesse Glass Artists

        

Michael Trimpol was first introduced to glass while taking a high school stained glass class in Stowe, Vt. While attending Concordia University in Montreal he started a stained glass business designing, manufacturing, and installing many residential commissions, as well as public art. He enjoyed the creative process of design, and creation in stained glass, but felt limitations in its two dimensionality. This let him to explore hand blown art glass. It was at Sheridan College School of Craft & Design in Mississauga, Ontario  that he finally enrolled in a glass blowing class.

     When he graduated in 1985 he accepted a glass blowing job at Harbourfront studios, a popular tourist destinations in Toronto. Shortly after he left Harborfront in 1989 he established his own company Hotglass Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario.

     In 1995 he moved back to Stowe, Vt. where he established Little River Hot Glass. Michael still designs, and manufactures his work which has continued to grow. His art includes paper weights, marbles, vases, bowls, and ornaments. He is represented in numerous galleries throughout the country, and is a constant favorite among collectors who love his innovative designs, and vibrant use of colors.

In his own words :

"Of the many media and processes which can be used to create, I have always been attracted to glass and its potential. Initially working with stained glass, I became drawn to the dynamic nature of the blowing process which seemed to better suit both my nature and my vision.

I have a strong preference for objects of a personal scale and with potential utility. A vessel with a lid or stopper has always been of most interest. Color and pattern are also important, either a single pure color highlighting form or a more complex mixture to create patterns.

I am proud of the final product but the actual process of creation is what I find most satisfying."

  

Monique LaJeunessa

Monique  received an Honors BFA from the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario and a diploma in the Fine and Decorative Arts from Christie's, London.

Subsequently, she worked for Fine Art dealers in Cork Street, London and in Yorkville, Toronto. In 1992, she became a designer, business manager and partner of Hotglass Inc.

In 1995, she relocated along with Michael to Stowe, VT to design for and operate the daily business management of Little River Hotglass Studio.

Together Michael and Monique have made Little River one of the most productive glass studios in the country.

Her passion however is animal welfare and she is active with many groups worldwide. She is especially devoted to her own dogs (English Bull Terriers and a Jack Russell).

Scott Bisson Creatures in Glass

                                                                                                                         
  
                                                                  dichroic snake
    

Scott Bisson is a man of many talents. Scott is an excellent finish carpenter, and accomplished licensed contractor building custom homes in the Pacific North West. He is an avid outdoors man, and is as comfortable chopping, and splitting wood with an axe as he is with a torch in his hand creating his popular glass art. However, art glass is his true love. I first met him and his wife Abigail nearly 15 years ago at a craft show in Philadelphia. I was fascinated with his use of color, attention to detail, creativeness, and quality of work.

   Scott began his journey in glass in Philomath, Oregon when he was seventeen. Bending glass tubing over a flame in a high school chemistry class piqued his interest and unknowingly a lifetime obsession and career began. After several years as a hobbyist, Scott made the acquaintance of Skip Horton and later Buzz Williams. With their guidance and tutoring, glass became Scott’s livelihood and ruling passion. For the next four years, Scott led a dual existence as a flame worker and furnace worker. In 1994, Scott took a class at the Pilchuck School of Glass with the world famous Robert Mickleson. This was truly a turning point. According to Scott, “Pilchuck opened my eyes and imagination to what was truly possible and I have never recovered.” In 2004 he studied and lived in Murano, Italy under the direction of Cesare Toffolo.

    `                                      
                                                       frog                            skink

Scott has now been blowing glass for nineteen years and is currently represented in close to 80 galleries spanning the United States. He specializes in borosilicate flame-work and translates his love of nature into whimsical representations of the world he sees.

                                                                                     

                                                                                                angler fish

Scott has a very high intensity method of producing art. If he isn’t sweating and racing around like a madman he just isn’t doing his best. He believes energy and excitement always create the best work. Skill just isn’t enough. “I put a little bit of myself into every work of art I create. That is how I breath life into each piece”. Scott hates limitations and takes chances most artists wouldn’t dare. “If I don’t lose a piece a day from getting in over my head, then I am not pushing myself hard enough. Skill is the raw material of a great piece, and drive and energy make it take shape”.

 

Leon Applebaum Glass Artist

    

lava Bowl

I've known Leon Applebaum for about 35 years. I started representing him in my gallery in 1982, and have been ever since. Leon loves to work with transparent primary colors and has developed an extraordinary assortment of work.  One of my favorites were 3" paperweights with  five balloon shaped bubbles. He would create these weights by blowing small bubbles on the end of the blow pipe and move them over one at a time as he would blow the next color. When he had all the bubbles on the blow pipe he then encased them in clear glass. His "balloon" weights were a tremendous hit. So  much in fact that Leon got tired of making them. Leon also worked with clear pieces as in his twist candle sticks, but always liked color and his use of color and clear glass. Unfortunately for myself and my clientele Leon isn't backing away from his decision to not make them anymore.

 

                                                               

                                                                                 Textured Bowl                              Trails Bowl

         However, all is not lost. Leon went on to create many popular pieces from his lava bowls, rainbow ice perfumes,and cold worked carved bowls, and transition sculptures. Leon was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1945. Leon planned in being a high school art teacher, but, as many artists find out, he was captivated by glass after his first hot glass class. Leon received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art, and his MA from the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.He has studied in Sweden at the Orrefor's glass School, and at Boda Glass. In 1974 he returned to the US to pursue his MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. He later taught at RIT, and Naples Mill Art School, in Naples, N.Y.

                                             

Transition Sculptures

     Leon's work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Ajeto Glass Museum in the Czech Republic.

     Leon explains that"The process of blowing glass has been my teacher for the past 30 years. I have developed glass blowing techniques for my work that captivate the fluid energy of hot glass, using fire, air, centrifugal force, gravity, and tools to push and pull the glass. I enjoy exploring the visual dimensions of massive glass and reflective interiors, using transparent colors so that the light passes through and brings out the pure beauty and essence of glass".

     You can visit and purchase Leon's work in our Santa Monica,CA. Gallery at 1426 4th St.Santa Monica, CA. 90401

adammsgallery.com

 

 

Restoring Concave/ Convex Leaded Glass Windows

  

                        

  A few times a year we are asked to restore concave/convex leaded diamond pattern windows. Many people think that these  windows were originally flat and that they sagged  due to age, and people poking on them. While this may be true in many cases there were a significant number of windows that were made concave/convex intentionally. We don't see too many being made today simply because it is a time consuming process, and most manufacturers either do not know how to build them, or just don't want to put in the time.

     In fact the first time I encountered such a window I though it had sagged from age, but the home owner informe3d me that he was a child when his father had them commissioned and that they were intentionally made that way when the house was built. It was from this experience that I learned how the windows were constructed, and what we had to do to restore, or duplicate them.

     With this particular project there were other leaded diamond pattern windows that had been releaded, but flat rather than concave/convex. This project involved eight casement windows approximately two feet by five feet. Four were in steel sash, and four wooden sash. We removed all the sash and boarded up the window frames with plywood. This was easier, and cleaner than taking the windows out of the sash on site. Of course it was much safer also as we could remove the windows in our studio with no risk to them falling, or coming apart in the process.

     The windows were in such deteriorated condition that we didn't have to soak them to loosen the putty. When we removed them from the sash they for the most part came apart in our hands. Of course we numbered the pieces first before removing them. Then we cleaned them and began the process of rebuilding them. The deflection was about 1" on each side, so we used 1" Styrofoam cut in 1 1/2" square to support each rise. The 3/8" H flat lead easily bends up and down, and the intersecting sections are cut to slip into the opposite channel. Once the window is leaded up, we solder the joints normally and glaze up both sides.

The reinforcing bars have to be placed horizontally rather than on the diagonal as we do with flat diamond windows. Of course this means that the bars are visible as they cut half way through the diamond, but there is no alternative.

                                      

     As you can see the final result is dazzling. The reflection off the glass resembles a diamond, and really stands out, especially from  a flat diamond pattern.

Adammsgallery.com                          Adamm's Stained Glass  1426 4th St.  Santa Monica, CA 90401