The artistic process is both creative and technical. As I’ve written about my creative process elsewhere, this section is entirely about technique. How did she make that? That is the question I seek to answer here.
The CliffsNotes version is as follows:
1- First I pick a subject. This often involves extensive research.
2- I turn the subject into a grid. Much math is involved.
3- The grid is giclée printed and mounted on museum board. I don’t do this.
4- I glue the crystals to the grid using a tweezer and a wooden toothpick. Much time is involved.
5- The pieces are framed. I don’t do this either.
Thus, each crystal artwork begins as a straightforward work on paper, then morphs into a collage. With framing it then becomes a three-dimensional object, although I would be hard pressed to call it a sculpture. I guess mixed media best describes what I do.
When I first started working with crystals, I encountered two major technical limits that had to be dealt with.
The first limit concerned size. In order to center each crystal precisely within its square, I had to be able to view the piece directly from above while working on it. To do this, each piece had to be relatively small. This was terribly disappointing, as, after years of making greeting cards, I really wanted to work large. So, I came up with a technique in which multiple small pieces, which I call components, are combined together within a single frame separated by strips of mat, which I call mullions. The final artwork, then, consists of a framed piece composed of multiple small components. But there is a limit to the number of components that can practically be placed within a single frame. To work even larger, I often I combine multiple framed pieces into groups that themselves comprise the final artwork. So, after much experimentation, I am finally able to create work as large as I like.
The second limit concerned color. Obviously, unlike a painter who can mix whatever color she likes, my palette is dictated by whatever the crystal manufacturers chose to produce. But the situation is actually more complicated than that. Crystals are highly reflective, and the color a crystal appears to be is profoundly influenced by both the color of the background and the colors of the surrounding crystals. I discovered through much trial and error, that for the color of each crystal to be optimally seen and differentiated from the surrounding crystals, I would need to place each one on a colored background. The background colors aren’t chosen to match the crystal colors so much as to optimize them. After many hours of color correction, my printer and I developed a palette of approximately 75 colors that I call my paint box. Periodically, a vital color is discontinued and a frantic attempt to buy up remaining supply ensues.
Finally, this section wouldn’t be complete without mentioning my technical collaborators who are essential to this mad project of mine.