Lead Editor–Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
Trinidad and Tobago has long been a country of great art and artists. However, Kristy Johnson is an emerging artist with a different type of art. She practises fused glass art. It refers to artwork created by melting and joining two or more pieces of compatible glass in a kiln to form a single, unified piece. It is as complex as it sounds.
Art is not new to Johnson. She studied it at Holy Faith Convent, Penal, and had a desire to do so at the university level as well, but was advised against it. She would end up working in the family business.
However, 2014 changed her perspectives on traditional art. She explained to WE magazine, “On a chance encounter, I stumbled upon a fused glass artist in a farmer’s market in New York. I was hooked. I spoke to this lady, must be for about a good hour. So, after I met with her, because she had done some jewelry that I just loved, I looked for somebody who would be interested in teaching me privately. I went to Sarasota, and I spent a week with somebody who taught me how to do it. By the time I left Sarasota, I had a kiln on the way and glass in my luggage. The rest is kind of history. I just kept going from there.”
Her newfound passion was also relatively new to T&T. She is among only a handful to practise the art form in this country. She added, “Fused glass is not very common in Trinidad, I think, because it is a little bit inaccessible in terms of you have to import your glass. You use glass that is a particular COE, a coefficient of expansion. You can’t take a bottle, break it, and mix it with another glass. The glass has to be compatible so that after it fuses, when it cools, there’s no internal stress in the glass and it doesn’t break. I think that’s what makes it a little inaccessible locally because I have to import all my materials.”
Fused glass has opened up an entirely new perspective on art for Johnson–one she thoroughly enjoys. She explained, “I think it is so magical because glass has the ability to capture light and bend it in different ways. You see different colours, and you can create pieces that are both solid but look fluid. So, they hold form, but they also carry movement.
“I just love that I can freeze the glass at a particular temperature. It looks molten, but by the time it comes out the kiln, it’s completely hard. It’s completely cool. I think it’s just absolutely magical, and there’s so much depth that you see when you look into glass.”
Johnson will open her first solo exhibition, Refraction: Bending Light, Shaping Beauty, at the Art Society of T&T from Thursday. This is where she hopes to inspire and help citizens understand more about the art form.
She said, “I want people to be able to see glass in a new way. It carries energy, and I want people to see the thing that has got me hooked is that I love colour. When you meet me, you will completely understand. I have purple hair, and I’m so taken with the way that glass bends light and shapes beauty.”
Her foray into fused glass has not been a traditional nor cheap one. However, she said she was beginning to see the benefits of her work. “My work is getting a lot more well-known, which always makes you feel really good to hear what people have to say about your work. It’s very rewarding. But yes, it is. It is on the more expensive side, I will admit,” she stated.
In addition to people buying her work, she has collectors in England, the United States, Canada, and Egypt.
However, she said the upcoming exhibition will be her “major milestone”. Johnson added, “I feel like an exhibition is supposed to go big and bold, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to make really huge pieces, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
For this Vincent van Gogh-inspired artist, she hopes to one day pass on the art to others. “In my future, I would like to give little workshops and classes. When I get a bit more of an established space where I can have room to have students and stuff, I would love to do that.”
Her art, while different, offers viewers a unique perspective, especially those who follow traditional art forms.
Johnson said, “In terms of my fused glass jewelry, I think it gives you a little piece of art, a little piece of feel-good happiness that you can take with you. I would like art to bring out emotions in people. For me, most of them are feel-good emotions, and I would like to share that with everybody.”
Though some may be sceptical, Johnson is confident that fuse art can evoke the same emotions as traditional art.
