Jo Ludwig

Jo lives and works in Victoria. He has exhibited across Canada as well as the U.S.A. Jo’s “Things of Beauty” are made with dichroic glass – the irridescent butterfly-wing coloured pieces radiate light. Layers of glass are fused and slumped to produce pieces that are beautiful from 360 degrees.

“At one time beauty was necessary, even the principle quality in works of art. Sometimes beauty alone was sufficent. Today beauty is not necessary and certainly not sufficent. For that matter beauty seems almost to be detrimental. My work addresses this issue.”

“Fusing and slumping is a two-stage process. First, on a flat kiln shelf, we assemble our design from pieces of coloured (stained) glass we have cut and shaped. We place the shelf in the kiln (similar to a potter’s kiln) and heat it until the glass melts, or fuses, into a single piece of glass. Second, after the kiln cools, we remove the fused piece (and sometimes sandblast, grind, recut, etc. the piece of glass) and place it onto a mold which we construct from clay, fiberpaper, steel, plaster, etc. We then return the mold and glass to the kiln and fire it until the glass bends, or slumps, to the mold’s shape.