Randy Glysch, an artist from Oregon, Wisconsin, marks the gallery's start into adding functional piecees to its in-house collection.
Four of Glysch's lamps will officially be for sale on Carnelian Art Gallery's website next week, as well as on display in the gallery's front window. Prices and other tag information to come, so stay tuned.
Glysch makes lamps using stain glass, as well as other artworks that are perfect for home windows, the garden or, really, anywhere outdoors. He makes them out of his home studio, which is in his basement. Glysch creates his pieces using copper foil and lead came. Copper foil is used for lamps, he said, because lead came is too heavy, and lamps can't stand the weight of the lead.
"I draw the (design) out on a file folder like this," Glysch says as he demonstrates how he creates a lamp, or any piece, from start to finish. "Then, I make a pattern (and cut out the paper pieces). There's two methods to making it. You can usually use foil (which is copper with an adhesive on the back). Using copper foil, what you have to do is you have to wrap (each separate) piece of glass. That's actually a skill, too, because you want to get it evenly wrapped. Then, what you do, is you come in with your sodder. You sodder the whole piece (together)."
Once the glass pieces are cut, Glysch uses a mold to lay the pieces out in the way he desires. Lately, he gravitates toward the color green, which is common, he says, in the arts and crafts movement, but other colors, too, like red, yellow and blue.
"All the pieces have been cut," he says. "I first dry fit it to make sure it fits the pattern. One of the things about stain glass ... if you cut it too big or go outside the lines, then the whole thing gets out of proportion. Now, what I would do with this one is take it out, wrap it in copper, then put it all back in this pattern and sodder it all together."
The finished product is a flat design with a gap that separates the lamp panels. The number of panels for a lamp can vary from four to eight.
"These were panels," Glysch says. "This is the exciting part. They are all flat. What I'm going to do is raise it up because it has to take the shape (of a lamp). Sometimes it works, sometimes I need two people to help me with it. After a while, I'll (sodder) the inside, as well. A (patina) cap will also be soddered to the top."
The final step is a good glass polish, he says.
He had a sizeable inventory of lamps, as well as outdoor sculptures lining his basement.
Glysch originally grew up in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He was the proverbial kid who drew a lot in elementary school. Upon graduating high school, Glysch enlisted in the United States Navy for eight years, mainly to be able to afford university.
While in the Navy, he was able to travel to places like Australia, China, Korea, Singapore and Japan. Glysch eventually went to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with ambitions to become an architect, but found a career home in psychology.
After obtaining his undergraduate degree, he want to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to get his graduate degree as a psychologist.
He then worked for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for just under 30 years in various fields including tobacco prevention, maternal and child health, among others.
Now, Glysch has greatly increased the presence of public art through state grants for Oregon, being engaged with 14 South Artists, a community of artists from south central Wisconsin, as well as having been a Village of Oregon trustee and presdent during the initial throes of the COVID-19 pandemic for two years. He played a significant role in recent years, too, restoring two Oregon historic icons, namely its water tower "The Tin Man" and its neighboring pump house, which is now a local center for art.
Of what inspires him, Glysch said making people smile, as well as nature and color. He is conscious about how art has an impact on mental health.
He said he's excited to have his work inside the walls of Carnelian Art Gallery. We are, too.