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Colored glass inspires artist Nancy Geddes
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by Kathleen Vandervoet
ancy Geddes is selling her glass jewelry and oil paintings in a new location, a half block west of her previous gallery. She moved in late April and now is at 8 Burruel Street, sharing a spacious, beamed-ceiling store with Pajolo Alpaca owned by Linda Peter. Geddes creates uncommon beauty using dichroic glass. The glass, with a special coating treatment, has interior micro-layers of glass and metals or oxides, with fantastic multicolor and reflective properties. These elements add sparkle and intrigue to jewelry. “I was one of the first to do it,” she said. An art background had prepared her to see the possibilities, even though she was working as an engineer in the aerospace industry at the time. In her opinion, “It’s pretty easy to make something beautiful,” with dichroic glass but it’s important to use enough glass, which is “very expensive.” The jewelry displayed in her gallery includes long, beaded necklaces, glass pendants in which the glass is imbued with fascinating colors and layers, earrings, bracelets and buttons. Wall hangings, music boxes and crosses are on view in smaller numbers. A wide range of her oil paintings are on view at the shop. She “loves the look of an abstract painting” of which she’s completed many, and has recently been painting landscapes and a range of other subjects such as flowers, fantasy scenes and her pet dog. Some of the dozens of paintings in the gallery incorporate fibers, netting, shattered tempered glass and beads to achieve an artistic vision. Images: (Top) An Impressionistic style of painting is used for these flowers by artist Nancy Geddes. (Above) Three crosses are studded with dichroic glass in rich colors. (Right) Nancy Geddes displays an example of the variety of glass jewelry she creates. Photos by Kathleen Vandervoet
Geddes’ paintings give her a great deal of satisfaction. “I started painting to relax,” she said, while she still worked as an engineer and traveled frequently for work. “I had paints in my suitcase and I would paint in the (hotel) room.” Out of high school, Geddes took art courses at California State University at Long Beach, and returned to college in her 30s for a degree in engineering from Sacramento State University. Geddes worked for many years as an engineer, with her final job being for Aerojet as a program engineer and manager. She said the “Star Wars” missile defense program the company worked on was the main focus for her. “It was perfect. I loved engineering and still do. I love problem solving,” she said. Her work “included a lot of work with glass” because the coating on glass can used to create a perfect wave length to transmit light through.