Oxbow Elbow

Glass Sculpture that is an abstract representation of an oxbow elbow   An "oxbow elbow" refers to a horseshoe-shaped bend in a river that has been cut off from the main channel, forming a crescent-shaped lake or wetland. This process happens as a river's meanders become more pronounced, and a new, straighter channel forms through a cut-off loop, leaving the old meander as an isolated body of water. The term is a combination of "oxbow," the name for this type of bend in a river, and "elbow," which refers to a curve or bend. 

Inspiration: Horseshoe bend in the Grand Canyon.  inspired by the river flowing inside the canyons.

Artistic Process:  The first step was cutting multiple layers of different glasses with glass and shards of glass on top in a specific pattern to representing a bend in the river within the canyons inside a stainless steel round mold as a dam to contain the glass.  Using a specific program to ramp up and hold the heat in the kiln to spread and stretch the glass to create a unique design with lots of depth and movement. After coldworking the edges,  I then cut an interesting complementary circle of glass as the base to make an interesting background - this was fired in the kiln stretching the design together. 

The glass stand is made of 3 layers of complementary glass fused together and then kilnformed into shape including a slot to support the sculpture with cold working to ensure the bottom is level and sturdy. 

Dimensions:  12.5" wide x 13.5" tall x 3 5/16" deep