Low Down Articles
Artist Profiles - Susan Glazer
Article 22 of 73
From the book Artists of the Gatineau Hill by Catherine Joyce. This article first appeared in the "Artist Profiles" column in the February 28, 2007 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Weaving Metal into Lace
Imagine crocheting a delicate bracelet in silver wire. Or carving a pendant out of a sheet of silver to create a dancing diva, resplendent with jeweled purse and high-heeled shoes. Ask Susan Glazer, Chelsea's innovative designer and maker of exquisite silver jewellery, how she achieves that perfect alchemical moment when the metal is fired for transformation.
"Silver has to be softened or annealed in order to shape itsmoothly. You have to gauge the temperature every step of the way - you want a dull orange but if the silver turns bright red, you know you've gone too far. Then, to be sturdy the silver needs to be worked - by rolling, hammering, filing or crocheting. Again it's a balance between hardness and softness. There's a point in metallurgy where the silver becomes too brittle to work."
This careful discipline, this eye for precision and finely crafted detail, have been distinguishing features of Susan's artistic development. As a young girl growing up in Montreal, she began to do crochet and macramé. Then as she completed her studies, a BA in psychology from McGill in 1976 and a M.Sc. in Speech Language Pathology from UBC in 1980, she took up weaving blankets and rugs and intricate textiles. She loved the feeling of solving puzzles, of figuring things out, the more difficult the better. Her motto became, "Just do it."
With her parents in the import business, traveling in the far east and bringing home beads in a rainbow of colours - amethyst, mother of pearl, rose quartz, onyx, jade - Susan began to experiment with bead jewellery. But it wasn't until she actually witnessed the wondrous jewellery and silver markets of India, China and Thailand in 1997-98 that she realized the potential lifelong challenge of making jewellery.
In the intervening years Susan has studied jewellery fabrication, casting, ring carving, and design at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts, Algonquin College, the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, and most recently with Arlene Fisch, mastering weaving techniques in metal. She has also studied drawing at the Ottawa School of Art to deepen her sense of line and colour.
"Nothing is ever lost. Crocheting in silver brings together my early love of textiles - all the techniques from my youth with the intricacies of jewellery making. Weaving in metal is like making lace but the metal is so dynamic, so alive, it is always changing as you play with it."
A member of the Artists in Their Environment Studio Tour, Susan also organizes the annual Larrimac Gifts from the Gatineau, and has been featured in many local craft shows and galleries.
"I design every piece. I love to dream up endless possibilities - the only limit is time - but then I must find the exact way to achieve that design. People may not realize it but jewellery is about movement, about the drape and the feel of the piece as much as the look.
"In the end, making jewellery is like all the arts - magical. It brings joy and goodness into the world. It transforms energy - as you grow, it grows. Your life becomes entwined with this ever renewing process of discovery. You create beauty, you give pleasure. What more could you ask?"