Thomas Spake

I find inspiration in the subtle yet mysterious beauty of our natural world. This beauty can be found in so many different places upon our planet, from the sandy ocean floor to mountainous peaks, from the spans of our bridges to urban landscapes. As an artist, I am a curious observer, a witness to what takes place in my environment. I take these observations and transform them into an object, something to hold and embrace. I find the process of making an object to be very powerful and so the object that is created becomes very valuable to me as well as others. I want the object that I make to be unique and sacred. So I place a great deal of time into the subtle and sublime details that might be overlooked.

These works are linked by common elements that run through all of my works including line, pattern, texture, and form and are the language of my expression. By using glass as my primary material I am able to manipulate its unique properties and draw upon age old techniques that help fulfill the vernacular of my designs. By using the heat, fire and the raw materials in the glass colors I have learned to manipulate and create rich, subtle patterns that abstractly mimic the landscape. By layering colors on top of one another and cutting and grinding into them I able to create textures and patterns that are reminiscent of our landscape and our surroundings.