It's ALIVVVVVVVVVVVE!

Starfish update! Today I bombarded a tangerine-colored tube full of neon gas + mercury. It has the same effect as argon gas + mercury. Without the mercury, the tube would be bright red-orange, but with it, it became peach. With the tube in the wood frame, the starfish glows! (It's a different color in the lower left corner because of the different shades on the electrodes on the ends.) Yay for neon!

Basket Starfish Progress

Two of these done.

Scenes from the Neon Studio

My Current Neon Project: I'm bending lots of tubes, layering them to create the illusion of a flat plane, dipping the whole thing in Blackout paint, and scraping away some of the paint (to look like the texture of a starfish).


(Last Semester's) Mercury Traps.

Phosphorescent-coated tubes under a UV Light.


Fun Stuff!

Trying My Hand at Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday is an art blog where artists are given a word, then draw what they think of that word. This was recommended to me by my friend Kate. I thought I'd give it a try. This weeks' word is "Instinct."

I made a photo collage of the women on my Mom's side of the family, as Russian Matryoshka (nesting) dolls. I feel like instinct is something ingrained in you, learned from generation to generation. My Mom's side of the family also has strong ties to Rochester roots, so hence the lilacs of the "Flower City." And without further ado, here's my interpretation of "Instinct."

Detailed Carved Linework

This appears to be a pattern in my work: Crazy amounts of tiny lines, carved by an X-Acto. Here's my glass project from last year's glassblowing class, where everyone made 16 objects, one to give to each member of the class. I made 16 panels of sheet music on plate glass. The song is Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer," a popular ragtime piano piece. The ledger lines and notes were sandblasted onto the glass.

Now, I'm creating a stencil with intricate tendrils.

The Conclusion: Lines are fun. So is negative space. And ragtime tunes.

Fruit Monster!

This is a fruit monster I made for my friend Sarah's Birthday. His name is Archibald. He is vicious, delicious, and very nutritious.

Calling the Starfish Enterprise

Here's my current plan for a lamp based on the Gorgonocephalus Eucnemis. Also called a basket starfish. It basically has a lot of arms that appear woven together, and can curl them up if so inclined. It looks a lot like tree branches and coral, some of my favorite natural forms. The cutout is the giant stencil that will cover the wooden frame and be lit from inside. It's about 2' x 2.5'.

Illuminating Ideas

Hello, My name is Carolyn. I am an art student getting ready for Senior Shows (!) at Alfred University. I like neon, drawing, photography, and puns. I also have a website, www.carolynkassnoff.com, but wanted a way to show the in-between stages of work. That's my favorite part of art school, seeing final finished pieces, but knowing the process of making these things.

I'm taking a Judaism & Islam class and it got me thinking about how light is an important part of so many different cultures. Light is constantly used as a symbol for knowledge or understanding, hope and guidance, among other things. I'd like to learn about different meanings of it.

Right now, I'm working on bioluminescent creatures like anglerfish, starfish, and jellyfish. They are pretty fantastic creatures. More details to follow.

Yay first art-blog post!