Beulah Gordon

I remember making a dressing table and chair in Kindergarten: I used my mother’s Mill’s 30 large flat cigarette boxes, the silver paper for the mirror, Lion Brand match boxes for the drawers and chair, and glued it all together with Bostik.  The drawer knobs were small and round.  I secretly loved going into hardware stores with my dad.  Everything in there was just mesmerizing.  My piano teacher, Ouma Polly, always complained that I talk too much during lessons. I knew I wanted to paint, not study music.  But that had to wait...

I studied drawing at the Art Student’s League, first in Cape Town and later in New York, painting at the School of Visual Arts, also in NYC, and from there morphed from a great love of oil painting to mixed and open media.  Glass found me.  It never once occurred to me to work with glass but since I began, over 20 years ago, there has been no stopping.

Prior to 2020 I did mostly commissioned glass installations.  However, during the first few months of 2020 I felt drawn to make these fused glass tea-light holders:  “DeLIGHTfuls.”  

The layered process of making them requires close to 100 kiln hours. The glass is all from BullsEye Glass in Portland, Oregon; famous for its uniquely high quality in glass and Eco-standards.  Each piece is safely packaged and delivered in an 8” x 8” x 8” box that can be shipped anywhere in the world.

I sincerely wish that the beautifully coloured light refracted by the glass brings DeLIGHT wherever it may shine.