Marc Tickle

Pedestal [filesize 12K]	Cosmopolitan [filesize 15K]	Ento [filesize 16K]
Tauri I [filesize 16K]

To have witnessed the artistic journey of Marc Tickle during the past ten years he has been designing kaleidoscopes, is to have witnessed greatness taking shape before your eyes. Over the years, Tickle has continuously astonished us with his innovative designs both optically and sculpturally. At every step he has honed his skills as a glass artist, applying his newly learned techniques into his designs. Optically, he has reinvented the kaleidoscope in ways never imaginable.

If you review Tickle’s approach to his art, you recognize a very specific development, each idea feeding into the next. His work is in no doubt, an extension of himself. One cannot review his art without recognizing the man behind it. Tickle is lovely. He is one of the most enjoyable people to spend time with. His approach is straightforward, pleasant, and intelligent, punctuated by the positive sense of himself and his character.

He was introduced to stained glass through a friend. At that time he was still going to school, and had little discretionary money to spend on glass. So he would buy the least expensive glass he could find - clear. He painted the reverse side of the glass to "dress it up a bit". Today, his painting style is one of the crucial components to his work. Since that introduction, Tickle has devoted himself to mastering the art of cold and hot glass techniques. Both elements are combined in his kaleidoscopes.

Essentially, Tickle’s kaleidoscopes combine flameworked glass, slumped glass, liquid filled ampoules, reverse painted glass, and incredible soldering. All the elements are joined together in such a way that no one technique competes with the other. The soldering is elegant, complementing and enhancing the reverse painting, which is generally accented by a panel of dichroic that is often times slumped. Tickle uses a lot of dichroic on the exterior design, which typically would be ostentatious, yet in Tickle’s hands, it is elegant. Just enough.

Optically, Tickle is not afraid to take risks. To try something new with mirrors that has never been done. He gives us new ways of looking at the kaleidoscope as well as new images to see. Tickle’s early kaleidoscopes were focused on mastering the mirror system. Tickle focused on clean, perfect symmetry. Once proficiency was established, he went on to test new ideas, to cut mirrors of unequal sizes, to place objects between the mirrors, then just in the seams, which then led to another idea, and so on. This methodical approach led him to design three-dimensional optical illusions that had never been made before. Tickle continues to amaze us with his new work.