North Fork artist Madeline Jacquot worked her way through quite a few different media before she found the one she really loved.
“I’ve done photography, oils, watercolors, ceramics and stained glass – I still do, sometimes. They were all good, and I enjoyed doing them,” she said.
But then she discovered glass. Shimmering, multi-colored bits, balls and sheets of glass.One day, while taking a hand-built pottery class at an art gallery in Coarsegold, “I started seeing people bringing in this glass stuff. It turned out to be dichroic glass in all these different colors. It really caught my eye,” Jacquot said during her recent exhibit of “Madeline’s Creations” during the 10th annual Sierra Art Trails.
“Dichroic glass was like a magnet for me. It drew me to its vibrant colors. I just knew then and there that I had to start working with this beautiful glass,” she said.
Jacquot explained that “dichroic” means the glass can appear to be two different, nearly opposite colors, depending on how the light hits it. “Dichro” contains various, minute amounts of oxides and micro-thin metals that work with the reflective properties of the glass to create its shiny, metallic, multi-hued look.
Best of all, Jacquot said, “Every piece is different. Even if I cut beads from the same piece of glass, they’re all going to reflect slightly different colors, and be slightly different in shape, because they’re all handcrafted.”
She describes her hand-cut, hand-assembled creations as being “like a little glass sandwich you fire in a kiln.”
She now owns three kilns, starting with a very small “igloo” kiln she bought when she first started fashioning jewelry pieces from glass. Her largest is a 13-inch octagonal kiln that is programmable for full and partial fusing, she said.
Jacquot creates necklaces in all shapes, sizes and colors from her dichroic glass. She also makes earrings, bracelets, watch bands, letter openers, wine stoppers, and even some belt buckles. She’s still not sure which are her favorites, but she certainly enjoys seeing her friends wear her creations – some of which are custom-made just for them.
This is the second time she has participated in Sierra Art Trails, and she said she’s looking forward to doing it again in the future, especially if she can exhibit again with her friends and fellow artists Gay Arbarbanell and Phyllis Overstreet. Together, the women presented a trio of friendly faces at North Fork’s Mill Site Gallery, as they offered visitors a wealth of information about their various art forms.
Jacquot has lived in the North Fork area for 12 years, but said she still doesn’t place her jewelry for sale at local shops. Instead, she prefers to participate in the many arts and craft shows that are oranized in this area.
For more information about where you can see Jacquot’s jewelry next, email her at mac1940@sbcglobal.net.
