A trio of “goddesses” watched over proceedings as Melody Vydas set to work. The squat, primitive ceramic figures, just 3 to 4 inches high, were grouped near the artist’s small kiln she uses to turn bits of dichroic glass into one-of-a-kind jewelry in her home studio in north Columbus.
“The ‘kiln goddesses’ are supposed to make everything go right in the kiln,” Melody laughed. The little statuettes made by former Mississippi University for Women clay instructor Martie Geiger-Ho were passed on to Vydas when the ceramicist relocated.
At the kiln, Melody loaded an oval metal form wrapped with heat-resistant material. On top of that, she balanced a straight length of fused glass in magenta and deeper hues. In the kiln’s intense heat, the bar of glass will “slump,” or “melt,” shaping itself to the form. While there are numerous steps to the process, the end result will be a cuff bracelet — an adornment in colors that can shift depending on the angle of view and lighting. That characteristic of dichroic glass grabbed Vydas’ attention more than 15 years ago.
Her immersion in art didn’t come early.
“I was never educated formally in art,” Melody said. “It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned to like it.”
Born in Chicago, Vydas trained and worked as a nurse. She met her now-late husband, Dr. Saul Vydas, there. Her developing interest in the art world was inspired, in part, by repeat visits to The Art Institute of Chicago.
“It’s a magnificent place,” she enthused.
On travels and as they lived in various cities, Melody and Saul made a point of seeking out museums and galleries. Whenever possible, Melody took art-related classes. In 1990, she began studying art at Penn State University and later at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her husband always encouraged her creativity.
After many visits to the Corning Museum of Glass and its hands-on studio in Corning, New York, Melody signed up for a week-long class in glasswork in 2004.
“That was when glass really became interesting to me,” she said, seated in her living room, petting her cats, surrounded by work by local artists. Every wall, table and hearth boasted paintings, sculptures, fiber art, stained glass or folk art by area artisans with signature styles. It’s an eclectic collection Melody and Saul enjoyed building together in the active arts community they discovered in the Golden Triangle.
“Saul was a great supporter of people following their passion,” said Melody. “It was when we moved to Columbus in the fall of 2000 that he told me, ‘Now you can finish.'” She did, enrolling at Mississippi University for Women and graduating with a fine arts degree in studio art in 2007.
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Vydas had never lost interest in dichroic glass, an intriguing medium of often iridescent brilliance. She developed a home studio and began making pendants, bracelets, earrings and other singular pieces.
“I’m offbeat, and it’s a little offbeat, too,” she said of the composite glass produced by stacking layers of glass and microlayers of metal oxides. Modern dichroic glass is the result of research carried out by NASA and its contractors. Artists are still exploring all the ways it can be creatively used.
Working with glass is a form of expression for Vydas, one that continually provides a sense of discovery.
“You can have an idea of what you want to do, but I think the fun for me is that there is an element of wonder when you open the kiln. It can be a weird and unusual thing … You can be surprised by how it comes out. Of course, sometimes you’re disgusted — but sometimes you get an even better result than you imagined.”
Dichroic glass can seem to take on a life of its own.
“I don’t fight it too much,” said Vydas. “I usually let the glass do what it wants to do.”
Fellow artist Kevin Voller of Columbus has followed Vydas’ exploration of dichroic art. They graduated from The W art program together in 2007 and are active in the local arts community. Melody is a breath of fresh air, her friend said.
“And dichroic glass is something that expresses her; it kind of follows along with Melody’s personality because she’s kind of a disciplined person, but she likes variety, too. I’m that way, too — and I guess that’s why we’re artists.”
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If there is an “offbeat” side to Vydas’ art, she delights in it. She’s also pretty sure she comes by it naturally.
“I think I got it from my maternal grandmother. We called her Nana Helen. She worked for Waring and traveled the world demonstrating Waring blenders, and she loved it! She said Beirut, Lebanon, was her favorite city. … She was wonderful. She was magic, and a really unique influence in my life.”
Wherever it originates, Melody’s joy in the unconventional emerges not only in dichroic glass, but in paintings of farmyard animals in purples and oranges, in funky baskets woven of plastic sacks, and any number of other ways. It’s freedom to imagine, to express.
“I think it can be transcendent,” said Vydas. “It’s sort of like flowers: If that’s what you like, then in tending to your flowers, there is a beauty in seeing those colors together and seeing what you’re achieving.
“If you transpose that into creativity by your own hand, I guess it can make you happy and can let you ‘out’ of other sorts of things that may be going on in your life. It gives you the satisfaction of having created it, and it gives you an internal lift. … We all have some expression in us.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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