Did you have a favorite animal growing up? One that you loved, identified with, family members bought you t-shirts & stuffed animals in their likeness? Isn’t it interesting how we, as young children, identify with our fellow members of the animal kingdom, then as with most of the magic of childhood, we outgrow our connection to our spirit creatures. The work of Tuscon artist Katja Fritzsche reminds us that those connections we once felt are not gone forever, only buried for a time.
Blue Sky Ram, reverse painted mosaic and hand cast glass, 30x20x22
By casting her creatures in the glass with perceived rigidity and coldness, Fritzsche’s work serves to recall to us that though we overlook our fellow animals, destroying their habitats as we build our own glass and steel monuments, they are still among us. We catch glimpses of them in unexpected places, a lost deer wandering a suburban neighborhood, a hawk perched high atop a skyscraper.
Edge, blown glass and hand worked bronze
Migration, cast glass and hand forged bronze, 18x10x10
Mapplethorpe, mosaic glass and hand worked glass, 30x21x10
As we amble clumsily through life, the animals live each day with instinct, grace, and purpose. Each born to his own calling and knowing it from birth. How have we strayed so far from our own guiding spirits?
Violet, blown glass, mosaic glass and pressed flowers, 24x15x22
To see more of Katja Fritzsche’s work, please visit her website. I went through a pretty serious manatee phase when I was young– such gentle, unassuming animals, while Mr. Forager has always had a fascination with wolves. What creature did/do you identify with? Has it changed over the years?
All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Visions West Gallery.
