To create his crystal sculptures Tom uses the same techniques to cut, grind and polish crystal and glass as were employed hundreds of years ago except that today he uses electric motors and diamond-dust technology that has improved the quality and speed of production. He uses Schott Glass Technologies optic crystal, known the world over as the foremost manufacturer of precision glass. The gem-like brilliance of these unique pieces is achieved by the quality of the polish, the artist's choice of crystal type, crystal color, number of interior surface laminations, and lastly, the sculptural form.
Every crystal sculpture is hand-held throughout the delicate and painstaking process of cutting, grinding and polishing to produce a truly one-of-a-kind piece of art. The process uses a diamond saw for rough cutting of the shape and then the piece is taken to the diamond laps where every facet is in succession ground with a 100 grit, 220 grit, 320 grit and 600 grit and finally polished with cerium oxide on a felt pad. This piece is then laminated to the adjacent pieces of crystal or specially coasted dichroic glass and the process of grind and polish is all done again on all these adjacent sides. This is continued until all the individual pieces of the sculpture, sometimes more than 100, have been assembled into the form that the artist is looking for.
The juxtaposition of these varying elements creates the internal prism effects hidden from the casual observer. Subtle rainbow prisms live within every crystal sculpture. The artist's purpose is to meld perfect clarity and internal confusion with solid form and transpositioning images, creating a one-of-a-kind vision bending experience.
In the artist's words: "My fascination with light has been a lifelong thing that is evident in every piece I make. When I start a new piece, my desire is to control the light, and therefore the appearance of the piece, in a way that beckons you to see more around the corner and surprises at each turn. Much of my artistic journey stems from my desire to produce pleasing shapes that flow, reflect and refract the light, like that little spot on the horizon that catches your eye, making you keep looking back to watch it dance on the edge."
"Working with glass over the years I have found it has many different personalities and properties. It is versatile, frustrating, beautiful, surprising and sometimes unpredictable. My inspiration comes from my desire to continually investigate new techniques and stretch the abilities of glass. The mastery of my skills and my craft and the attempt to manipulate light in ways that no one expects I find very satisfying."
Tom Marosz shows his work in galleries in California, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Canada and the Philippines.
