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Artists' Statement |
Partners in life for nearly four decades, Don and Ellen Ljung find their skills and style to be complementary in their fusing of glass. Ellen has always nurtured her artistic right brain. In the 60's she made macramé hanging pots, and she sewed and painted the family's wearable art. Several years ago she used her natural eye for color to create exquisite gemstone necklaces. Wanting to create the components of her jewelry, she recruited Don and they took a class in fusing dichroic glass. They now have a studio in their home where Don, a former physics professor, runs the three kilns. Don is an expert at precision cutting and has designed their line of men's belt buckles and unisex geometric pendants on leather cords, while Ellen's specialties include beaded necklaces using dichroic beads throughout or as focal beads, as well as earrings, pins, and bracelets. Now they collaborate on serving pieces and art glass panels, where Ellen's expertise in color is matched by Don's experiments with new ways to design with the glass. Together they create jewelry and art objects using the brilliant colors of glass and the wide range of light diffusion and reflection of dichroic glass. Creating beaded jewelry and fused pieces of art allows Don and Ellen to explore the attributes of natural elements, combining color, shape, and texture in unusual ways. The tactile nature of fused glass, handmade felt, silk, and metal beads intrigues them, and their designs showcase the natural beauty of these materials and their interplay with each other. Although they use a wide range of colors, their work tends to feature the rich blues and greens they see in wilderness kayaking and the rich hues of fall foliage. Ellen creates necklaces with unexpected combinations of silk, fused glass, and felt that become unique accessories for women who are one of a kind themselves. New techniques include sandblasting and etching glass, along with the use of silver and copper inclusions. Their latest work uses fused glass for serving pieces and wall art, along with unusual items like men's cuff links and wine stoppers. Don and Ellen have taken classes in sculpture [College of DuPage] and glass fusing [Fine Line and Ed Hoy], and Ellen has taken jewelry, wearable art, and lampwork bead making classes at the Fine Line and Bead and Button. Their international travel and frequent visits to art museums have shaped their design aesthetic. Don and Ellen have shown their work at many Illinois fine art shows, including the St. Charles Downtown Fine Art Show, Fountain Square Festival, and the Long Grove Art Show. Their work is currently available for purchase in art galleries and boutiques in New York, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Illinois, including Excentrique in Hinsdale, Spare Parts and Mint in Chicago, and the Illinois State Museum Shop in Chicago. Their website address is http://donellendesigns.com |
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