Studio Visit: Renee Radenberg

It all started with a ferry ride. I am a big fan of Renee Radenberg’s glass art and I wanted to learn more about her process and see her studio. As it turned out, my son was visiting from Florida with his bike at the time so we grabbed the ferry to visit Renee and bike on the boardwalk in  Rockaway Park.

Verrazzano Bridge

Renee’s studio is the entire lowest level of her home, rebuilt after being destroyed during storm Sandy. I’m sure it was impressive before but now it’s a showplace of her work, tools and supplies.

 

Renee in her studio

 

This assortment of glass welcomes visitors on entering the studio highlighting the color and unique quality of glass. What becomes immediately clear is that she has tools! I have never been in a studio space so decked out…but then I'm more likely to frequent drawing and painting studios with few requirements for tools.

 

 

I was immediately drawn into the work she had on her tables.Each piece goes through a number of steps in the process to completion: sawing, layering and distorting. If you are interested in working with glass, she does offer classes.

Glass has such unique qualities of color; think stained glass windows. Translucence is obviously an important characteristic but glass can also be opalescent with it's own appeal. As with any material it has its own language. That language certainly speaks to me.

This piece is made with glass frit (crushed glass) and then fired which forms a ‘Lacey’ look.

This piece is layering of glass with textured glass (fired so you can feel the glass but it is fused to the top layer of glass. We call it a Tac fuse) on the top layer. The materials used are glass powders, glass enamels, frit and small pieces of sheet glass.

More Tools

Did I say tools?

For sawing glass

Set up for photographing her work

We had a wonderful visit, saw some amazing art and had a nice bike ride and ferry ride home.

Be sure to check out her work at the BWAC Makers Market. There are many lovely pieces in a wide range of prices.

Renee's website 

Renee's Instagram  She does a great job including video of her work in progress

I look forward to more studios visits with BWAC members. Let me know if you are interested.

Kristin Reiber Harris

krharris46@gmail.com

Meet BWAC Artist: Renee Radenberg

 

Globe,cast glass, 7"x7"x7"

I met Renee through the Makers Mart, instantly intrigued by her creations in glass. I am not well versed in the techniques used to work with glass and to me it's just magic. I have enjoyed following her work and getting an idea of the very wide range of objects she creates.

 

1. Why do you make art? 

I create so people can experience the wonderment of glass. Glass has a wonder-ful physical property - transparent or opaque - allowing you to see the illusion of space and depth, the constant play of positive and negative spaces.  This causes a magical flow within the glass, embodying fun, playfulness, and the spiritual energy of nature. This can be healing - by holding you in the present moment to enjoy that magic, be enthralled and charmed so you forget the world’s challenges. 

2. What tools/materials do you find essential in your studio?

As a glass artist I need a lot of equipment and materials to create the different techniques of fused glass. The most important piece of equipment is the Kiln (I have 2 kilns) where the ‘magic’ happens. Then there are equipment needed to grind the glass, such as wet saw, lap grinder, wet belt sander, ring saw, and a sand-blaster.
Of course glass is the number one material. Glass has numerous colors that comes in sheets, glass powders, crushed glass (called Frit), glass ‘stringers’ (looks like spaghetti), and billets (large thick ‘bricks’ of glass used to cast glass).