Secrets to Making Stand Out Art Revealed

Excerpt from Breaking Through-Making Exhibition Quality Art Video by Lisa Vogt

Are you ready to take your work to the next level?

I’m sure you’ve noticed the dramatic increase in outstanding, professional quality fused glass artwork being made by your fellow artists. You admire their originality and the advanced skills it takes to produce such striking art. But then you find yourself wondering what makes them so special. Why aren’t your pieces getting noticed?

What’s missing?

To answer that question, we first have to consider what makes artwork stand out. There are two key features that make artwork exceptional. The two elements are unique form and dramatic imagery. Design your projects with these basic concepts in mind and you’ll immediately see an increase in the desirability of your work.

Unique Form

Shape up! Move away from the simple square, rectangle, and circle. These shapes are tired. They have their place when making a production series where minimizing material, fabrication, and labor costs is essential for profit.

But if you want your work to rise to gallery status, give your artwork an unexpected or brand new shape. This elevates your fused glass from a practical or functional container, to a glamorous, three dimensional, fine art sculpture.

Get creative, combine slumping molds to make one-of-a-kind shapes. Use fiber paper or fiber board to change the profile of your fused glass. You’ll quickly find, the possibilities are endless.

Dramatic Imagery

What makes a painting memorable? They’re generally rectangular in shape, so what makes one unforgettable? It’s the subject matter, of course. Taken a step further, it’s the artist’s distinctive composition, their unique way of interpreting the focal point and the special way the scene in rendered. Give the viewer a fresh look at something familiar and they’re hooked.

There are several ways to engage the viewer and hold their attention longer with your subject matter. Render a recognizable subject in a surprising way. Use unexpected colors or add props, like a hat on a dog or a tutu on a cat. Include an interesting background that enhances the subject. Place your focal point in an unusual setting. Put a flower on the moon. Or, put the moon on a flower. Visualize a composition that extends beyond the rectangular limits of your glass canvas. And then build it with enthusiasm that shows.

The Winning Combination

Combine both unique form and dramatic imagery and your work will rise above the rest and get noticed. It’s easy. Start simple with the basic shapes and add your own twist. Put notches in a square, put curves in the straight edges of a rectangle, give your circle a free form shape. Then reshape the fused glass by slumping or draping it on a combination of molds and other kiln furniture. There are no rules. Just make it your own and you’ll come out a winner.

Once you integrate these design concepts into your work, you’ll be amazed how quickly your work rises to a higher level of sophistication. And in the process, thinking in a broader scope will open the door to all new, exciting possibilities.