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White River Gallery
Current Exhibitions
Gallery Artists
Join the Gallery
Music & Performing Arts
Events
Contact Us
| Promoting the Arts in the White Lake Area Located in Downtown Montague, MI |
Donna Ryan Featured Artist for August
Sagging and slumping may be the bane of middle age women, but they are glass
techniques that get creative juices running in White River Gallery’s featured artist for
August. Donna Ryan will be in the Gallery 10:30 to 5:30 p.m. August 10; her work will be
featured August 3 through September 5.
Ryan delights in decorating art glass sheets with smaller colored glass pieces she has cut
into a variety of shapes. She then either fuses or casts the components in her kiln and
finally decides whether to slump the resulting plates of glass over a mold or sag them into a
hollow to create a bowl or a vase. In playing with her molten media, she may also stretch
them into wavy-edged platters or pieces of whimsical sculpture. Summertime pieces include
colorful patio plant stands set on wheeled or metal bases. As a bonus, the platters could be
cleaned after serving their summer purpose, and used decoratively or as serving pieces in
the home.
“Most of my work is dishwasher proof,” she said. “They’re fired at 1400 degrees; why not
put them in the dishwasher?”
Ryan credits involvement as a docent at Muskegon Museum of Art with her awakening as an
artist. After a group of docents traveled to Fremont for a class in fused glass, Donna bought
a kiln and began to explore the medium in earnest. She had done a variety of crafts,
including stained glass, prior to her exposure to fused glass. She savors the more abstract
values of fusing and casting glass to the rigidity of stained glass.
“You can play with it,” she said.
“Playful” describes the four confetti plates Ryan offers as a set or as individual pieces.
Flecks of bright colors are sandwiched between translucent layers to form the square
plates. In another, shadow box-type piece, a triangular splash of vermillion is embedded in
clear, textured bubble glass. The blurred effect is intentional. One her most fun pieces was
a commission done with metal artist Michael Jellema. Jellema fashioned a metal banister for
a client who wanted a spectacular newel post. Ryan cast a glass ball in two pieces to allow
for a light to be inserted in the center. Jellema’s metalwork holds the orb together. The
piece tops the newel post.
“It was a total experiment,” Ryan said. “The first four or five balls broke!”
Failures are simply steps toward future successes as Ryan continues to buy or make molds,
and manipulate melted glass to suit her latest fancy.
techniques that get creative juices running in White River Gallery’s featured artist for
August. Donna Ryan will be in the Gallery 10:30 to 5:30 p.m. August 10; her work will be
featured August 3 through September 5.
Ryan delights in decorating art glass sheets with smaller colored glass pieces she has cut
into a variety of shapes. She then either fuses or casts the components in her kiln and
finally decides whether to slump the resulting plates of glass over a mold or sag them into a
hollow to create a bowl or a vase. In playing with her molten media, she may also stretch
them into wavy-edged platters or pieces of whimsical sculpture. Summertime pieces include
colorful patio plant stands set on wheeled or metal bases. As a bonus, the platters could be
cleaned after serving their summer purpose, and used decoratively or as serving pieces in
the home.
“Most of my work is dishwasher proof,” she said. “They’re fired at 1400 degrees; why not
put them in the dishwasher?”
Ryan credits involvement as a docent at Muskegon Museum of Art with her awakening as an
artist. After a group of docents traveled to Fremont for a class in fused glass, Donna bought
a kiln and began to explore the medium in earnest. She had done a variety of crafts,
including stained glass, prior to her exposure to fused glass. She savors the more abstract
values of fusing and casting glass to the rigidity of stained glass.
“You can play with it,” she said.
“Playful” describes the four confetti plates Ryan offers as a set or as individual pieces.
Flecks of bright colors are sandwiched between translucent layers to form the square
plates. In another, shadow box-type piece, a triangular splash of vermillion is embedded in
clear, textured bubble glass. The blurred effect is intentional. One her most fun pieces was
a commission done with metal artist Michael Jellema. Jellema fashioned a metal banister for
a client who wanted a spectacular newel post. Ryan cast a glass ball in two pieces to allow
for a light to be inserted in the center. Jellema’s metalwork holds the orb together. The
piece tops the newel post.
“It was a total experiment,” Ryan said. “The first four or five balls broke!”
Failures are simply steps toward future successes as Ryan continues to buy or make molds,
and manipulate melted glass to suit her latest fancy.
