The Wedding Guests

My friend and an amazing artist, Mary Jo McConnell, (mjmcconnellart@gmail.com) gave me 3 different antique bed posts that she picked up for me an Estate Sale. From the moment I saw these three, each with their own unique shape and original post I knew that I would not split them up. 

I created  "The Wedding Party" is a gather of quests who are awaiting the bride and grooms arrival. They are all aunts, on the grooms side and each has their own story. 

The finials were created individually and then the matching post was then finished to go with the completed figure. All three sit on top if a multi-tiered wedding cake inscribed with "The pleasure of your company is requested. RSVP. ...and the guests assembled with their paint and plummage.

Works in Progress

Quick iphone photos of works in progress. Watch as the completed pieces are later posted with details and a much better photograph!

Mother Nature  SOLD

I loved working on this piece, the little finial seemed to guide me through the entire creative process. Complete with her miniature book base, she is only about 4" high and is made from small beads, frayed rice paper and paint. Developing and building up the finish of her torso was my favorite part of creating this piece.

Emma

From the moment I found this table leg in an Essex, MA architectural antique store, I knew that her theme would be asian. It was the proportions of what became the wide band over the small quarter-moon face that had me excited. In addition, the wood had been sawed in half vertically making "Emma", my first piece to be hung on a wall.

I created the look of cloisonné www. vintage-cloisonne.com/Cloisonne-information.asp on the band by twisting thin brass wire in to little more then 1/4" florets which I then glued in place.This process took over 20 hours before I could add paint that fills all the tiny shapes created in wire. Her body is painted and adorned with a old hair barrette. Her hat and base are both made of red sand paper in two different grits. I love the color and texture. Emma's neck is adorned with USPS stamps. Along the base, are Chinese letters I cut out of a copy of my parents Chinese wedding license. www.gluckman.com/ShanghaiJewsChina.html

Mädchen

The beautiful piece of turned wood that is Mätchen's body was on my Father's household tool bench in the basement of his home. I am quite sure, like me, my father admired it's form and workmanship. After he passed away, I took it and placed it in my studio where it remained untouched for 6 years until I began this new body of work less then 2 years ago. 

I loved the movement of her embroidery 

hoop skirt held in place with strands of antique seed beads. Mädchen has two faces,one smooth and wide eyed, the other aged with eyes closed representing good and bad feelings. Her hat is in inverted antique wire basket. I removed it's handle and wove silk ribbon throughout. 

Humpty-Dumpty is a vintage drawer pull from a child's dresser. Its shape makes the perfect stand for Mädchen.

Nubian Queen

Picture this piece inverted, you may see how this form existed in another life. It once hung off a corbel http://architecture.about.com over a victorian house door. This newel was partially covered with layers of thick white paint when I found it in the trash outside a home in Marblehead. The paint was cracked and chipped adding to the potential that I saw. It was the area of what is now her dress combined with her overall proportions that most inspired the transformation. 

Included in the work is paint, beads, feather down and stamped foil and metallic fiber.