Nancy Weisser and I teach students various methods of creating and assembling colorful glass components with various kiln formed glass techniques, including triangle designs and murrini. When all the components are complete, students use an eight-pointed star framework as a starting point for assembly. Putting triangle slices together in sets of four or eight creates kaleidoscope patterns of infinite possibilities. Murrini are placed in designs around the triangles, mosaic style, onto a base circle of glass. Students are encouraged to consider multiple designs before choosing the final one, allowing ideas and feelings to evolve. This allows their glass mandalas to express the deepest messages from the heart and soul. These are then fired in kilns, melting all the pieces into one integrated whole.
This glass class is unique with Karen’s integration and adaptation of our HeartThread and Soul Recognition principles, along with meditation and qigong movements. First, students select a Soul Card with Karen leading a meditation to create a unified field among the students and teachers. She provides a presentation on the history of mandalas as a way to connect with one’s soul and the universe, with the concepts that everything is energy, including color, shapes and numbers, seeing natural patterns in everything from a dandelion, to a snowflake, to the fractals in plants. Meditation and qigong movements are included throughout the class, emphasizing the importance of both grounding the body and trusting the creativity of the heart and soul to flow through the work.
Glass art is a beautiful way to connect with the light, cultivating the Divine spark within, in a field of trust, creativity, and support in a sacred space. The glass is the canvas, and our creativity comes through the medium of our soul.
“My glass art comes from my heart. I take light and express it through the glass. Glass and teaching provide new ways to use the tools of HeartThread and Soul Recognition to share that beauty and peace with others.”
“This class is great for beginners as well as experienced glass artists.”
Lara Heubusch-Debnar:
The blue mandala, including her soul card, is by Lara Heubusch-Debnar who had no prior experience with glass.
Lara said, “Karen created a space where I was able to use the medium of glass to demonstrate the fluidity of my spirit that I experienced in a dream after our first class together.”
Melissa Thiel:
The yellow and turquoise mandala is by Melissa Thiel – her second time taking the class, who also had not had any previous glass experience.
She said, “The opportunity to create two mandalas six-months apart was revealing and so special; although the colors were amazingly similar, the second reflected more freedom, fun and huge movements in my spirit – now, allowing and just letting go, following the burning and passion in my heart and soul.”
Karen Wilson is a Heart Thread Facilitator as well as a Soul Recognition Facilitator-in-Training. In addition, she is a Dragon’s Way Qigong and a Vipassana Meditation teacher and a glass artist and teacher. You can see her glass art below and on her website.She found a way to incorporate all these modalities in a four-day glass Mandala class she began co-teaching this year with Nancy Weisser at Weisser Glass Studio in Kensington, Maryland.
Nancy's studio is located on West Howard Avenue in Kensington's Art, Antiques & Design District. Weisser Glass Studio & Gallery has been serving the arts community of the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area for 30 years! Check out their website for more info.
Comments