Artist of the Month
October 2023
Willi Haye
Willi Haye is a cast glass artist who has always been intrigued by the different qualities of light. Although line, color and shape, share great importance in her sculpture, light is instrumental in contributing to the mood of her work. With her abstract designs she works on visualizing how the light and the eye can be directed through and inside a piece of her glass sculpture. She is represented by Winterowd Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
Ode to Ruby Rose, 2023; 14.5 x 7.5 x 2 inches; cast glass
Butterscotch Expression, 2023; 10 x 9 x 2 inches; cast glass
The Journey, 2022; 13 x 8 x 3 inches; cast glass
Claret Glimmer, 2018; 18 x 14 x 4 inches; cast glass
Azure Glimpse, 2019; 22 x 10 x 4 inches; cast glass
Green Whisper, 2022; 15 x 9 x 3 inches; cast glass
Periwinkle Poetry, 2022; 12 x 14 x 2.5 inches; cast glass
Earth Song, 2023; 10.5 x 8 x 1.5 inches; cast glass
Blue Serenity Stones, 2023
Willi Haye
Artist Statement:
I am a cast glass artist who is inspired by the abstract work in part by the abstract paintings of my parents and others, as well as from nature. I typically sketch out my design and mull it over while considering light and color. I create a model in either clay or foam. Then I take photos, review the photographs, consider changes, and try to visualize the design in my mind with glass color choices which are affected by the density of the design, and how it will look in the light.
Light is crucial in my work as I visualize how it can be directed through and inside a piece of sculpture to create luminous reflections. Sometimes it is a smooth visual transition created by straight lines into the glass. Other times the design allows one's eyes to move around for a few moments inside the glass, absorbing the colors that are changed by the light depending on the color and density of the sculpture. Initially I used a mainly monochromatic color palette in my castings. However, during the pandemic I experimented in the hot shop for about 1 ½ years before I was successful with creating color components - in the hot shop first, and then incorporating them in my cast glass pieces giving them a sort of abstract painterly look. I am sure this stems from my years surrounded by the abstract art work of my parents.
At times I completely change the original work, and it becomes something completely different than my initial conception, as the next reiteration comes from an unknown place born from a balance of my conscious and unconscious life.
About Willi Haye
Willi Haye bought her first piece of glass at age 17 while traveling around Europe before starting college. She barely had enough money to get by, but found a piece of glass in Murano, Italy that she bought anyway as she was so intrigued by the colors and light. She had no idea that someday the shining, gleaming luster of glass would become a great passion of hers. Willi lived her formative years in the Netherlands immersed in the art of her abstract artist parents and their artist colleagues who were also mainly interested in abstract art.
Willi spent most of her adult years working as a registered nurse working in spine research, taking care of her family, and involved in photography and artistic welding as a hobby. Upon taking a glass sculpture class at the local community college in 2007, she fell in love with the process of kiln cast glass art and continued to take the class time after time to improve her skills. In 2011 she received a Glass Alliance New Mexico scholarship to study at Pilchuck glass school.
As her skills were improving and her art was getting better, she was invited to numerous Invitational shows, and in 2016 she attended the Secondary School of Glassmaking in the Czech Republic for a month studying with Glass Master Petr Stacho. This was a life changing event in terms of her art. In 2019 she had her first solo exhibit Luminous Reflections, at Palette Gallery in Albuquerque, NM., and continues to show her cast work at Winterowd Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, her blown glass “rocks” at Casa Nova Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Duncan McClellan Gallery, St.Petersburg, Fl, and Crane and Crow Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.
In 2022 she was invited to be a teaching assistant at Corning Museum of Glass for Czech Glass Master Petr Stacho.
Click here for an artist's resume.
Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Winterowd Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, for providing the Artist of the Month.
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.
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