The V&A description reads:
Steffen Dam (born 1961)
Jellyfish installation
2010
Steffen Dam replicates with remarkable accuracy the specimen jars found in natural history collections. He is interested in the faults and irregularities that occur during the making process, and uses metallic oxides and foils to create three-dimensional shapes within solid glass forms.
Denmark (Handrup, Ebeltoft)
Glass, silver foil and carbon layers, sculpted at the furnace, sand-cast into colourless glass, ground and fire polished.
As you may be aware, I've made my own cast-glass specimen jars, in which are the "ghosts" of deformed carrots... "they are no more - only the space they once occupied remains":
I thought I'd done a pretty good job on my specimen jars but they look really crude compared to the exquisite quality of Steffen Dam's work.
And that got me thinking.
While I've been at Plymouth College of Art a number of people have told me that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a craft and for that reason, it's important to specialise in a single material. I've treated the idea with a lot of scepticism. But now I'm beginning to realise that achieving the standards of quality expected by the V&A and other famous institutions probably does take 10,000 hours.
But that hasn't made me think I should specialise in a single material. Far from it!
If I practiced a craft for 40 hours a week, it would take me at least five years to rack up 10,000 hours, by which time I might be an old crock (or dead). So I'd be better off continuing along the lines I've been pursuing with a lot of my efforts to win a public art commission - developing a network of expert makers that can implement designs that I dream up.
I won't stop making stuff because I enjoy it, but I suspect I'll never achieve the quality of the likes of Steffen Dam.
