Art Chowder September | October, Issue 23 | Page 25

Art Chowder:   Have you worked with other
mediums?
Chorvat:  Yes. I am a video artist, illustrator,
designer, painter, and sculptor. I’m
obsessed with art education as a formal
technique for creating it, in whatever
medium.
Throughout my life, it was important to
use other mediums and find relationships
between them. Sometimes, it’s better to
make a piece out of a different material,
simply because it will say what you want.
Because of this, I realized it would also be
important to understand the foundations
of art as thoroughly as I could, through
academia. So, I obtained my BFA in
sculpture and oil painting. This furthered
my ability to transpose technique and
critical theory into every medium I work
with. 
As I developed more techniques for
using borosilicate glass, I was lead into
other areas of study like refraction,
thermodynamics, and vitrification. This
allowed me to make artwork out of
materials that were very non-traditional.
In studying vitrification, I researched
unique ways of crafting memorial
pendants, using ashes. It has become
the most meaningful aspect of my work.
I’m currently working with the Pacific
Northwest Cremation Society to be an
ash pendant artist. I’ve been doing it for
15 years and researching better ways of
making them so the ashes are more time-
honored. The glass is less bubbly and has
an archival appearance. It’s opulent. My
work is mostly based in an archival nature
and making it last as long as it possibly
can.
I take memorializing people very seriously. I use special tools, take the time to talk to the family and learn about the person: what
they were like, what song they would want me to listen to as I work, etc. I love to meet people, hear their stories, and try to capture
them in a piece of archival work. Their memorial is the last impression they’ll make. Some people create giant mausoleums when
what people really want is just that little thing that’s indelible. Something they can hold in their hand. So I’m happy to be working
with the cremation society. 
September | October 2019
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