Being cloistered at home during the pandemic has offered me a peculiar benefit: I immersed myself working in the studio next door in a renewed spiritual fervor.
Oddly enough, despite being isolated because of my heightened medical risk factors, I have derived a sense of restoration and well-being while exploring the healing virtues of beauty during my quarantine.
I have encountered a confluence of my interest in translating Walt Whitman’s and Emily Dickinson’s poetry into glass, and a heightened consciousness in the qualities of transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is an elusive philosophy. For me, it means evidencing nature in a spiritual realm, combined with a disciplined work ethic and individualism.
Incorporating transcendentalism as a creative goal could seem abstract, but too me, the process is to render my feelings into a physical glass object that celebrates the healing virtues of beauty. My interest is not new. It has been percolating for decades. But because of my solitude and creative need I have enabled the spiritual energy of Whitman and Dickinson to impregnate my work. Over the course of my career, I have likened my activity in the studio to a monk-like devotion. Faced with being isolated, I now have a better understanding of the value of cloistered spiritual focus.
