The "jellies" don't sting here

Artist Rick Satava and his truly realistic Jellyfish in glass have been a part of Crescent Moon for many years. Each year they attract our visitors and customers over and over. We hear it several times a week from people that they bring in friends to see his work. A shelf of "jellies" is pictured to the right. Do many assume it is a real jellyfish? Oh yes, and that is the testament to the talent of Satava. Even his magnificent Nautilus and Petroglyph vases, on display now, appear to have been painted with an artist's brush. We like to say..."Rick paints with glass without a brush"!

Jellyfish have been found on earth for over 650 million years - before sharks and even dinosaurs. They have no head, heart, brain, bones, cartilage or real eyes. Yet they're among the major predators in the ocean. Their tentacles carry stinging cells that are among the most complicated found anywhere in the animal kingdom. Did you know Jellies are 95% water and humans are 75% water?

Rick says that the complexities and contradictions along with the translucent beauty and grace are the characteristics that intrigued him and seduced him into spending five years developing the colors and hot glass process necessary to capture "jellyfish" in glass.

These sculptures are built from the inside out - starting at the core and adding one tentacle at a time and finally the clear dome is added and the "jelly" is born. Everything seen in a jelly is a different color of glass. The way it is layered gives it a translucent appearance. Developing the chemistry, yep chemistry even in glass work, was the most challenging aspect for Rick to bring the ethereal, ghost-like quality into his glass sculpture. His exclusive formulas blending various metal oxides such as silver, cobalt, selenium, cadmium, and others into molten glass work in tandem with his vast experience in hot glass, to bring to life these amazing works of art.

Come visit and experience the art of Satava...maybe one will captivate you!