Illness moved woman to create glass artwork

BANGOR – Audrey Sparkes says that most of her artwork is “giving thanks to God because when the world went away – God didn’t.” Her glass art came about as a direct result of an illness. She suffers from myalgic encephalomyelitis, a central nervous system disorder which limits physical and mental functioning.

Some of Sparkes’ glass art is made with dichroic glass, invented by NASA for optical experiments in space, making it some of the most expensive glass on the planet, she said. Dichroic glass will change color completely depending on the angle from which it is viewed. For example, blue will become salmon, and yellow will become purple. At night, some of the glass appears shiny silver.

“Most of my glass works are made using various kinds of glass, many of which have their own ‘special effects,'” she said.

It was double the pleasure, double the pride for Sparkes last spring when she had artwork on display at Alpha One, Union Street, and at the University of Maine Bookstore in Orono.

The bookstore exhibit was called “A Matter of Perception: 2005 Fifth Juried Exhibition by Artists with Disabilities,” sponsored by the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies at the University of Maine.

“Because I use, primarily, only scrap glass for my artworks, it would be nearly impossible for me to try and duplicate anything I do – which is a blessing in disguise. In this way, I am able to create anew with every work,” she said.

“I very much needed to feel as though I could do more with my life than struggle to feel better,” she said. “My soul still needed to express its purpose.”

In 1998, with a handful of colorful flat pieces of glass, Sparkes discovered that glass changes color with the light of day and night. As an experiment, she picked up a box of scrap glass in pretty colors. She used them like jigsaw puzzle pieces and put them together to make a picture.

“It helps me feel more aligned when I look at those colors and shapes [of glass] arranged just so,” she said. “The fascinating, constant changes in these glass tapestries, varied by lighting and time of day, keep them always looking new and ever-enticing.”