Carved in pinewood with aged silver gilt finish. Mirrors fronted by misted slumped glass. Full size original sketch and full documentation with photographs available. Full biography of Antony Powell and the poem "The Spuming Glasses" available upon request. Famous commissioned pieces include altar piece for Pope John Paul II, now residing in the Vatican.

How the Spuming Glasses Piece came to be by Antony Powell

"I grew up on the south coast of England, near Brighton where the chalk cliffs start and wend their way to Dover. I love the sea and sailing and the way the waves crash into shores and cliffs, and actually carve them by gradual erosion. Now, as a carver myself, this phenomena has always taken my fancy, and I got to thinking as to how nature lays down in layers, such things as rocks, sand, shells, wood, ice, snow, etc. and then it comes along, sometimes the next day, and sometimes millions of years later, and erodes them in a way that reveals wonderful shapes and striations.

These thoughts have provoked many other feelings like the wonder of, half worn shells, rock pools and caves, flotsam and jet some, spin thrift, and the way that the crashing waves spume upwards as they dash themselves against the rocks. And then there was the fantastically shaped ice-burgs and sculpted snow and striated wood; all worn by nature eating into the softer layers more quickly than the hard ones.

So it came to be that I wrote a poem expressing these ideas, and then went on to quickly interpret them by modeling in a clay, a small 'marquee'; which left interesting striations made by my rough finger prints. It was all a spontaneous "happening" that though born of fanciful ideas, had no purpose other than as a work of art. However, there were the churning waves and caves, the rock pools that could be expressed in glass and mirrors, and there were the side shelves that could hold candles or sculptures in glass. Art was grasping at function, but never the less when finished, dried, and fired, the grey clay became white and beautiful. I was pleased that it had so fully expressed my concept, and in the personal style that I had been developing for a number of years.

However, the commissions continued to dominate, life got in the way, and many trials, tribulations and a few years later, I finally became free to pursue my dream of giving up the controlling commissions and concentrate on creating my own pieces, in my own style.

In fact, the way that this piece had come about was a revelation of a whole new way of creating 'style'. Namely, if one is taken by a phenomena, and broadened it into a collective visionary concept, then in the fast mediums of poetry and clay, express those half abstracted ideas as a prelude to the final medium, then a new 'style' could result from the combination of those ideas, and ones previous influences. I determined to exploit the concept in this way, and in this exiting new phase of my career.

The first piece that I created using the new way, was the 'Looking Into Glass', [a separate story] and it was a marvelous success, it took a joyous four months to create and when immediately shown, it sold within an hour for a handsome price. Delighted and confident I could then turn back to what was to become "The Spuming Glass' piece.

So, the Marquette was dusted off and decisions were needing to be made. Excited by the possibilities I had it photographed into a pair of miror images, as I had in mind creating a pair of 'girandole' like sculpture frames about three foot six high. Then with an overhead projector I enlarged the image on the wall to that size and was pleased with the result. I could have stopped there, but intrigued with the process, I then found that when enlarged to five and half feet it made a 'statement' all by itself, without the need to create a pair.

So, decision made, I copied the image roughly on tracing paper and went on to make a proper drawing, with shading on one side, and pastel coloring on the other. During that designing process I dreamed up the idea for the 'orifices', of alternating, convex/concave, slumped glasses, backed by mirrors. The effect I was after was for the glasses to carry on the shapes of the surrounding carving. I had used the idea on the previous frame to create a sense of 'woodland mystery' to great effect, and on this piece I felt that it would suggest, wavy rock pools with mysterious depths. Already the decision was being made that this was to be my 'make or break masterpiece', and I had no idea then the size of the commitment I was taking on. At last I was embarking on a life-fulfilling path and I couldn't have felt more confident and happy with my career path.

Some months before, I had laid aside plenty of 'northern white pine' stickered and drying in the studio rafters; so then came a month of the careful journey work, to build up the necessary wood for the carving process. Perfectly hand planed and true planks with alternating annul rings were 'rub-joined' across the width of the frame, cut to silloett shapes of the design; then more alternating planks on top, each one covering the preceding joint and shaped to minimize the bulk. Eight layers of inch and a half, by five and a half inch, clear pine; each perfectly joined and with no traverse members that would restrict natural expansion and contraction. I used white glue, and my cramps were 'fox-wedging cleats', across, with sticks bent from the ceiling for downward pressure. The result was a mammoth, topographically shared block that delighted the eye, which already suggesting the finished sculpture.

Then followed the real work of the mass removal of the excess wood, with one eye on the Marquette and drawing, and innovating as I carved. Any tools lacking had to be made, and though I tried mechanical help, I found that hand carving was still by far the most effective, and as the months rolled by in ecstatic process, my full concept was gradually revealed. What a joy to be finally a sculptor and a fully realized artist.

I had many hours when I felt as if I was on another plane of existence, as if of braking through a portal of ecstasy. Once the basic shapes and molding was there, I striated the surface to resemble waves, leaving some areas plain for 'relief'. The whole, when finally finished, evoked perfectly my original feelings of wonder at those spuming and churning waves, and with the striated effects of nature. Delighted with the result I felt vindicated in spite of the risky financial picture looming.

Nevertheless, the glasses needed to be created, and on a tight budget; so, discussing this with my newly made sculptor friend, 'Mitchell', he very generously suggested we 'play' and learn how to create them ourselves using his clay sculpture kiln. We knew not what we were undertaking; and after many months of exciting experiments and disasters, we ran out of time and money, and had to revert to commission work again. But we had learned the process, and would return to it when we could.

Life got in the way again for several more years, and finally the glasses were slumped, and they, and the mirrors behind, were installed. Side candleholders were also sculpted in glass as an alternative to the internally lit glass sculptures, also created during our playing months.

The finishing technique was to be similar to that created for the 'Looking-Into-Glass' frame, but this time with flecks of gold as well as silver to imitate the sparkling seas. The pastel colors were achieved with a "pointillism" effect by minutely flicked on paints; and the whole surface rubbed back through a little, to reveal the mellow toned wooden surface underneath, yet another time consuming process to add to the over ten years history of this piece from conception to finish.

Finally, a mold were made, and a wonderful cast in my invented 'wood based' composite. Later on, another more versatile mold was also made to facilitate a variety of exciting, alternative casting concepts. The story goes on, and a stile has been set that I can but hope may have a life beyond mine."