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Maggie Spencer – evolving glass techniques at Sawdust 

 

Maggie Spencer has always been categorized as a glass artist during her 16 years at the Sawdust Art Festival. The new glass techniques she’s learned over the past five years have kept Spencer’s art evolving, energetic and enthusiastic.

A self-proclaimed “Boomer” Spencer captures the generation’s spirit, with an exhilarating mood. Her works have capricious colors and shapes, infusing humor into the pan-Asian Zen philosophy to a joyful and enriched life. 

Spencer has much to celebrate and be joyful for, as a seven-year cancer survivor she has been faced with the very essences that are important in life. Her enthusiastic and strong personality shines in her work, her enthusiasm contagious and energy unlimited.

“I started my artist career with stained glass, but wanted to take my work further. I wanted to experiment with color and texture. I fire my kiln every day, experimenting and observing how the glass reacts to other objects such as metal, it’s like the ultimate science experiment,” said Spencer.

Solar Flare

16 x 20 glass fusion panel with accents
of copper and steel

“Solar Flare”, one of her current works, is perhaps a perfect result of her experimentation with color and texture. In an email response to an inquiry this week, Spencer said:

“Most of my current work reflects the world around us on a universal scale; thus the sun, central to solar system and to our human existence. Though the sun appears static, the flares reflect the constantly changing turmoil within. The steel rods that run horizontally through the piece are a nod to Oriental scrolls and represent a Zen element, balancing the hot solar activity,” she wrote.