Medium: mixed media - modeling paste, acrylic, colored pencil, glass, beads, wire, brads, and prismatic foil

Artist Statement: i have worked with found objects on my heart fetishes before, and i have most definitely gathered broken automobile glass to produce mosaic-like hearts on 5 by 5 boards before. when i discovered a pile of tinted black glass across the street against the curb just outside my studio window---YAHTZEE!!! i looked forward to the idea of creating a grouping of 9 black hearts to represent my eight brothers and sisters and me. i crossed my fingers that i had collected enough glass before the street cleaners came along. this piece is one of nine interactive pieces, and the idea that you, the viewer, can touch the abacus and move the beads around according to your mood that day delights my heart. if you look really close in the right light, you can see a circular piece of prismatic foil in the center of the hearts, and if you look even closer, you will notice that i laid the glass in a circular shape before completing the rest of the heart mosaic. piecing the glasstogether to create a circle and then the heart lead me to observe my obsessive behavior and at the same time, understand the joy and mosaic artist feels as they puzzle together their bits of glass and tile.

Piece Details: