Kent Sandy Larsen

Sculptured Leaded-Glass Artist

Ear of the Wind Studios

6463 Pioneertown rd
Yucca Valley, CA 92284
ph: 760 365 3044
ear_of_the_wind@yahoo.com

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EAR OF THE WIND STUDIOS All artwork by Kent Sandy Larsen

Above: Commission window for a private residence in Joshua Tree, CA. 47" by 14". Completed in July of 2008

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ARTIST'S STATEMENT: My leaded glass windows are actually bas-relief or three-dimensional. They are not made from flat glass sold in stained glass supply stores but instead are made from glass shards and as-found broken glass dishes, cups, bowls and bottles that I find in thrift stores, yard sales, and scavenge from old desert dumps. I love the idea of making something beautiful out of what other people throw away or discard. I've spent my life observing ancient Roman mosaics, eccentric folk art designs like tramp art, crazy quilts, and other objects with elaborate surface textures. Abstract Expressionist Artists of the 1950's such as Jackson Pollack, William De Kooning, Franz Klein, and others are a great inspiration to me.

In my work I try to take advantage of the contours, shapes and colors of the glass that I find to achieve a brilliant patchwork of color and texture pleasing to the eye while giving the glass a free-form undulating surface. It is as if the window was pushed inward and pulled outward at the same time. You can see the three-dimensional features better in the photos on my "About Us" page.

I love to wander in the desert, often in old town dumps, where I pick up bits and pieces of glass, broken things that were discarded years ago, changed by the harsh desert, yet to me, beautiful. Sometimes I call my windows 'Junk Yard Tiffany', because so much of the materials are literally found in junkyards, and Tiffany because of the method of lead-solder construction. I like to think of my work as if a tiny gnome or faerie, or even a packrat, had gathered broken fragments of glass to piece together a little window for their….little dark house under the roots of a great old desert Juniper tree."

ARTIST”S BIOGRAPHY: In the 1970's Kent Sandy Larsen studied art at Cypress College, Cypress Ca. with an emphasis on three-dimensional design. His ceramic sculptures were exhibited at the college and at Cal State Fullerton where he also studied. He moved to Pasadena and worked for many years as a freelance graphic designer for agencies and magazines.

In the '80's he created what he called "Outcroppings" - tiny plant and rock niches designed and grown in ceramic containers of his own making. These miniature lifelike slices of nature were exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History for four years running and featured in the L. A. Times Home Magazine in 1983.

In the 80's he built a home and studio near Escalante, Utah where he now live in the summer; Yucca Valley (Pioneertown) California is his winter home.

His career as an antiques dealer started in 1983, and only recently he became interested in doing leaded glass windows. Using old discarded glass he feels has married his interest in antiques with his creative interests. His windows are like translucent crazy quilts sewn together with fragments of glass instead of silk ties.

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Works exhibited at the Escalante Canyons Art Festival in Escalante, Utah www.everettruessdays.org and artworks are always on display at Pioneer Crossing Antiques 55854 Twenty Nine Palms Highway Yucca Valley, CA 92268 (760) 228-0603 www.pioneercrossingantiques.com. Special orders can be made to fit specific window sizes and dimensions.

Above: Windows are made from found dump glass. The glass was burned, slumped and melted in trash fires many years ago. Also used "end of day glass" which is a term for glass factory production leftovers. They are more of a suggestion or an "impression" of a sunset or a landscape rather than a true depiction of the landscape.