Alice Benvie Gebhart "Reflection of Self"

This self-portrait was meant to be a record of how I look on the outside and a record of who I am on the inside. What I am, what we all are, is a combination of all life experiences. I have lived over half a century and have grown and changed over those many years. How could the artist in me reveal the many decades of these years of life in a self-portrait?

I decided to take a picture of my middle-aged face and include my reading glasses, changing hair color, and life-wrinkles, not my glamour shot! That was the outside likeness I wanted to present. But the look of me on the outside is not all I am on the inside. I asked myself, “How could I show my “inside” in this self-portrait?”

As an art teacher, I always require my students to write about their artwork. What better way to reveal myself to you than to add a written reflection? Over the last 20 years I’ve kept a journal. I’ve documented of my life in my journal that reveals an ordinary journey, yet one that is specific to myself. I decided to reveal my “inside” by adding journal entries to my self-portrait. I picked out passages that juxtaposed the common with the eventful, the reflective with the superficial. These passages of lines and time surround my likeness in the center. I believe this self-portrait tells a realistic story of the person I am.



Process and Materials
I start with a digital photo and sketch out ideas before picking up any glass. Once I have my design I scan it and print it to size. I approach my work as if I were creating a collage of color with glass. I use Bullseye clear, put the photocopy underneath and then add colored glass. After I’m happy with my glass placement, I fire to full fuse. Lather, rinse, and repeat using smaller glass pieces to create more detailed effects. I layer, build and arrange with glass until I’m happy with the results.

For added detail, texture and value, I paint with Reushe tracing black using the scraffito method. Remember when you were a child and drew a design with beautiful colored crayons then covered it up with black crayon and scratched through to the colors underneath? That’s the technique that I implement in my work and chose to use in areas of this self-portrait.

The writing for this piece was taken from my journal that I’ve kept for many years and is very personal to me. I copied appropriate entries with black Thompson enamel to the reverse side of the clear border. By the way, the writing had to be written as a mirror image in reverse! Tricky!