JODIE-MAE

Long Live Leadlights. I was in the @nytimes what the hell!!!
 There’s a bit of a running remark in the industry that glass people are all a bit kooky (could literally just be the lead lol) but I think something I notice as my career goes on and I meet more and more glass artists and masters is that glass is an ALL IN kinda thing. Throughout my career as an artist I was yet to find a material that was so historical, bottomless and humbling to work with. Once you do, you suddenly find yourself with a journal full of secret tips (Fuji film is better for glass than Kodak and lead dykes apparently make the best nail clippers), a phone full of friends sending you windows they now notice EVERYWHERE, and a sixth sense for turning your head or looking up at the very precise moment to catch some obscure hidden Leadlight in any city you’re in. 

It’s a daunting, exciting, and mostly hard to comprehend thing to be at the beginning of something that feels so significant for our industry. It’s something me and @duckragu often laugh about over the bench. When we started our course it was small and new and most of us had zero expectations. Stained glass feels like a secret club, once you find it suddenly it’s everywhere until you’re at the pub and you’re desperately trying to explain to people you have nothing to do with LED lights. In the 3 years I’ve been here I’ve felt that conversation changing and so many more people are picking up glass! Early on in the course we were assured this was one of the more positive creative industries to be in. One that understood gatekeeping = death and was already fast becoming a lost trade to risk it. I have found this to be true all over the world, invited into studios, given materials, taught new techniques, borrowed books, and shared long conversations. Biggest thanks to Donna for @glaasinc people like @nadinekeegan_ and @jordanb_art for pushing our materials further, business women like @duckragu and @foolsglass for putting us on the social media and design maps and so so sooooo many more. Stained glass is so so special :’)

‘The Moon Has on His Best Suit’ for Springtime#6 Based on the iconic Peter Max 1969 matchbook series these works try to capture the butterflies in your tummy. They’re very dear to me and you have one last chance to see them with a closing event and artist talks this Sunday @backwoods.gallery

Another one of these off to Sydney 💌 I love making this technique into people’s commissions soooo much! When I started I think I believed the myth that making other people’s ideas would be unfulfilling. In actual fact every commission I take has always had something for me in it too. Making this cute little gift between sisters about a home they love - over a period of time I spent without one, gave me a lot of time to think about the idea of home 🏡 It’s walls, it’s people, maybe it’s packing everything you own into your car for two months, it’s your friends that appear before you’ve even hung up the phone, it’s where you can bounce back and re build. The mornings I woke up without a place to call home made me realise how tangible that feeling is when it’s gone. To a room of one’s own and coming home🥂

A work I made called BUSH as part of a series titled ROSE, BUSH, THORN. Making work that’s so personal can sometimes even catch YOU off guard. I made these works in a pretty thorny (lol) time and wasn’t entirely sure what they meant, I felt like the way this one looked was slightly foreign to me and my style but in hindsight it’s taken on a new look. I love my kooky technique and had so much fun making these lead thorns that inevitably cut up my hands. Made for ROSETTA curated by @melgrisa

IT’S COMPLICATED A series on love, dating and the relationships that shape us. Director: @leighton_bradfield Producer: @maile_______ DP: @tavianord Talent: @dos_95 @leadlevels @whoskaylamoon Music: @newnausea @clove_band @davies_jack_ @rubypettit @anna.schneid @sunsickband_ @scratchingmusic @bures_band

ROSE is a kiln formed prize rosette I made for @melgrisa Rosetta show. This was a work I’d wanted to attempt for a long time and pulled together with the help of many. Thank you to @bethanyhwheeler for teaching me the technique and being so generous with time and materials. To @twosunsglass for watching me pull it off in two early mornings and not questioning my naive optimism!! and @jordanb_art for FaceTime coaching me through turning the kiln on🎖️🧲

A weird year for lead levels!!! This year I was thrown almost every possible curveball to get in the way of working. It was a fkn hard year and a quiet year as a result but in hindsight a bunch of special things still happened! Some hilights: Got a new studio Found a note I wrote as a kid that filed “leadlyding” under things that made me happy Got a website Released the first LL tee shirt Started a newsletter Got to see our insane project installed in Sydney designed by the incredible Tom Nicholson Got to finish off an even huger one that’s going overseas Got to keep working, learning, laughing, and drinking tea with @gwstainedglass !! Watched @duckragu open a studio and shop in record timing and with her perfect eye for design Got to teach workshops in that space! Got to lead some mirrors in that space Finally made something in the kiln thanks to @jordanb_art FaceTiming me to turn it on Made stuff that never saw the light of day Made stuff that’s on the other side of the world Finally bought a light desk (huge) Did another (?!?!) show with @melgrisa Got to shoot and speak to lots of fun people (coming soon!!!) Bought more silly little glass trinkets Got to work with so many other glass artists and dear friends who I am so proud do this with! Thankyou for watching!!! Big tings comin!

If one memory could change your whole career, would you listen? When Jodie-Mae was fed up with the digital realms back in 2021, she decided that she wanted to make something tangible with her hands instead. At the thought, a certain memory came to mind when she thought of ‘craftsmanship’. Her mum (who herself was a leadlight artist) had made each of Jodie-Mae’s siblings a stained glass lamp - but as life does, time and other matters got in the way and her mum was never able to complete a lamp for Jodie-Mae. Pondering what that lamp would have looked like, her imagination started to run wild. And it ran, and ran until years later - where she found herself with sold out collections at exhibitions, features in the New York Times and her works adorning many corners of Melbourne. What started as a memory, led Jodie-Mae down a colourful stained-glass path to find herself to be a leadlight artisan and creator of @leadlevels - a studio bending the rules of traditional glasswork, and reframing it in a contemporary and truly captivating light. •••••••• Australian Stitch had the privilege of stopping by the @leadlevels studio and witnessing Jodie-Mae in action as she worked on recreating a vintage piece dear to her. We chatted burnout, how AI can’t take away hand made craft, the beauty of mistakes and the importance of the hours in craftsmanship being recognised in all forms. To hear our combined thoughts via a sendout, pop your email into our ‘be apart of the community’ link via our bio, you might even exclusively see Jodie-Mae wearing our new hoodie there too.

These custom key rings 🐚purse mirrors 🏀 and hair barettes 🎀 are all exclusively available at @tremaobjects in Quebec I had so much fun making these cute little things inspired by @tremaobjects and @charlesokeefe for their new space. They’re all my favourite little shapes and symbols ☯️ Part of the process was done outside in the middle of the Australian bush too so it’s fun that these now live on the other side of the world 💫 MAYBE if you ask nicely there could be some available here soon 🤔

So so excited to be invited to show my new works in Rosetta, a group exhibition curated by the one and only!! Melissa Grisancich🌹 There are so many artists in this show that I admire and I can’t wait to share the walls with them 🎨🎭 Opening reception on Dec 5th at 6pm @jackywinter.gallery Artists - Aaron Grech @aaronsworld94 , Rhys John Kaye @rhysjohnkaye , Michael Danischewski @mdanischewski , Molly Turner @mollygumboot , Callum nisbet @callumnisbet Hello SISI, Yakob Morley @yakobmorley , Lead levels @leadlevels , YUN @yun_o_o_yun , Melissa Grisancich @melgrisa , Ben Jones lygonben , Anna Hoyle @annahoyleart , Rosie Turner @rosie_turnerx , Piero Clemente Garreffa @ohnopiero , Ruby Hoppen @rubyhoppen , Octoriver Daniel @octoriverdaniel , Morgan Blue @mm_blue_ , Kasper Raglus @kasperraglus , Laurent Impeduglia @laurent.impeduglia , Joel Melrose @moeljelly , Jane laver @modern_folk_ , Al marcano @al_marcano

All the way around 💭💒🚀 A very heartfelt commission for @hannahlehmann__ and her husband 💫 The day before Hannah messaged me I was having a big meeting with myself and filled out pages and pages of questions about what I want Lead Levels to be, as soon as her message came in I thought of my answer to this one particular question! I love making glass for love!! I also felt like I had a secret admirer getting these love notes in the post ☄️❤️ Getting back into this technique I developed was equal parts fun and humbling… I forgot how much secret tech actually goes into making these weird “wrong” Freeform leadlights 😵‍💫

NEW WORKSHOP DATES UP! yay! The next 3 available classes are up on my website now 🤡 get em while they’re HOT 🥵 Incredible footage by @slammorton somehow making the putty process look good 😵‍💫