17.10.14

Audience Looking for a Story

Process needs a storyboard; results need an audience.
Some breaking is done by hand, other times tools are used
I've been developing a glass mosaic making course in the last few weeks. Starting with a discussion at Kona Stained Glass on Knight & 33rd, I wanted to get my hands "dirty" so that I can get a sense of what my students are about to experience.
Cutting glass is magical. You scratch the surface slightly and with very little pressure you drive the whole piece to open into two. Even with a straight line it still fascinates me to hold my fingers at the base of the score line and crack my door into the material. But then come the meandering lines. The glass can just as easily follow your path.
Starting with the image of an actual scene, surfaces are defined to generate the proposed concept.
Not everyone who joins a glass mosaic making course is comfortable or skilled enough to plunge into every step of the way with confidence. This is why people sign up to take courses in the first place. You might not expect all the revelations that will inspire you to continue but you sure hope to get rewarded for your investment.
Dividing the surface into a grid generates a playful module
But the making of mosaics is not about mosaics and not about making. It's about storytelling. The story is personal and evolving. It can be the process of making the mosaic piece that will become the story; what brought you here can be part of it; and maybe there's an image that bubbled inside your head that is waiting to be expressed.
The better the pieces fit together - the better the result
Who is the audience for this result and where in the storyboard can you see them coming from?