Go Big or Go Home! Larger Art Pieces are Here!

Seahorses are like people, some tall, and some short! The largest of the creatures is the Big-Bellied Seahorse, not a very romantic name, but it does give you a good visual. The Big-Bellies can grow more than one foot long! They inhabit shallow waters of Southern Australia and New Zealand.

Greater Seahorse 2, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin, Sold

Rather fascinatingly, the Big-Bellies can take their long tails and wind them in or wind them out, anchoring themselves to seagrass or even to other seahorses. Mating for life, a pair of Big-Bellies will hang out together for about six years down under.

Greater Seahorse 1, KJadon, 2024; Glass & Resin; Available at Do Over Decor, Jensen Beach, FL

When mating, the female will push her belly against the male’s brood pouch, at the base of his tail. She will inject 300-500 eggs through an egg duct. The brood pouch becomes a placenta, sustaining the foals with nutrients. Like all seahorses, the male carries the eggs until they are ready to swim on their own.

Greater Seahorse 3, KJadon 2024; Glass & Resin, 15 x 22; Now Available

These larger art pieces are created upon reclaimed glass shelving. This type of glass is thick and durable and able to hold the glass and resin that I layer atop.

Other pieces of glass are remnants from bottles, vases, fancy dishes, stemware and plates. I use these types of glass because they have shape, curves, texture and sometimes prints that are unusual. I especially like to place them as the crowns on the seahorses’ heads. Some small shards are leftovers from other artists’ stained glasswork. Approximately 99% of my art is eco-art, utilizing repurposed and recycled glass. It arrives from friends, thrift shops and a garage sale or two!

See my Stone, Shell and Jewelry Art! Paintings Smaller Glass Pieces

Artwork Available Locally at Do Over Decor and Sand & Sea Boutique

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2024

Seahorses A Marker for Indian River Lagoon Health

Seahorses are beautiful creatures of the shallows, both in Florida waters and around the world. Most often I use glass as my artist’s medium, as if to say of the seahorse, “fragile, handle with care,” or “look, but don’t touch.” But why have I chosen seahorses as a muse?

Most Floridians live near the coast. Our seahorses live in these coastal waters, just minutes from our homes. This includes the Indian River Lagoon, not far from my own house and art studio.

The Indian River Lagoon is a unique estuary of sealife. According to the EPA, it has national significance. A healthy Lagoon relates to healthy water, translating into healthy people and a healthy economy.

Locals have seen sharks, a variety of fishes, jellyfish, stingrays, an occasional sea turtle, and dolphins flipping by. The 156-mile-long Lagoon, this shallow area of brackish water, is part of a barrier island system covering about 40% of Florida’s east coast. The Indian River Lagoon belongs to the Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties.

The Lagoon hosts mangroves, oyster beds, seagrasses, sandy areas, and salt marshes. In all, 3500 species of animals and plants live there.

Within this unique ecosystem live three types of Florida seahorses: the Dwarf Seahorse, the Lined Seahorse, and the Slender or Long-Snouted Seahorse. Native seahorse populations are a marker for Indian River Lagoon vitality.

Seahorses are vulnerable. As they decline, we can know that our Lagoon is declining as well. Threats to seahorses generally include coastal development and pollution.

Seahorses use seagrasses as their habitat. Typically, they’ll use their long tails to anchor themselves to the grass. With their long snouts, the creatures suction in tiny animals that live among the grass. No grass means no food for the seahorses.

Algal blooms have been a plague across the Indian River Lagoon. In 2015, the Florida Oceanographic Society reported that Florida’s estuaries, which included the Indian River Lagoon, was “one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet.”

Seahorses also need to see to catch their prey, but when algal blooms block sunlight, their vision is blocked as well.

In 2018, environmental reporter, Tyler Treadway of Treasure Coast Newspapers (TCPalm for you online folks), published an article about the fragility of the Indian River Lagoon after Lake Okeechobee discharges. Locals reported that the seahorses had begun to disappear.

The most important thing that can be done to improve the Indian River Lagoon seahorse populations is to do what is necessary for healthy seagrasses.

Seahorses are precious. They are vital markers of the life of our waters. The Indian River Lagoon is in transition. It can either be left to falter as it has been doing because of irresponsibility or it can be responsibly supported.

Project Seahorse states “that if we can get it right with seahorses, it will help save coastal seas.”

Little things matter. If the Lagoon had been cleaned up in several ways, manatees and other sea life would not have succumbed to death by environment.

I have seen a seahorse pulled from the river just across from the House of Refuge. Will my grandchildren know the wonders of the water as I have? Will yours?

I urge you to consider the future of the Indian River Lagoon and make changes to protect our seahorses.

Geode and Glass Mosaic Seahorse--Resin, Glass, Geode; Kelly Jadon, 2024, Available at Sand & Sea Boutique, Jensen Beach

(C) 2024, Kelly Jadon

The Florida Seahorses

Several years ago, my husband and I were out on Hutchinson Island on the dock across the street from the House of Refuge. A man was there netting fish. On this occasion, he’d also caught a seahorse! There are in fact, three different types of seahorses native to Floridian waters.

I’ve recently read Seahorses: A Life-Size Guide to Every Species by Sara Lourie. The author has a Ph.D. in the science of seahorses and has made their study and preservation her life’s work. Fascinating!

Dwarf Seahorse by Will Thomas, Wikipedia, CC. Lic.

In the world, there are approximately 50 various types of seahorse. The tiniest may be the size of a bean!

Often, their colors blend with their environment for protection. Their camouflage normally includes mottling, spots, and stripes. They have crowns, little frills, and points like spikes. The creatures swim slowly in an upright position, and are usually found in coastal waters anchored by their tails to seagrass, mangroves, coral, etc.. Their long snouts are used to suction in tiny invertebrates.

During courtship, they are seen waltzing.

The male seahorse will carry fertilized eggs and then give birth to them. How many? Some seahorses birth thousands!

Aqua Jeweled Seahorse, Kelly Jadon 2024, Available at Sand & Sea 3/21/24

Currently, I’m creating a series of seahorses. They can be viewed or purchased at the Sand & Sea Boutique in Jensen Beach, Florida.

This Dwarf Seahorse is found around the Florida Keys!

Dwarf Seahorse, Layered Stained Glass, Resin Finish Kelly Jadon, 2024

(C) Kelly Jadon

South to Guatemala

The Guatemalan mountains shrouded in cloud cover are home to the Resplendent Quetzal. This bird makes its home in the canopy of the rainforests at very high altitudes.

During ancient times, the Mayan people prized the rare green tail feathers of the Quetzal, using them as a form of exchange. This idea persisted into modern Guatemalan culture with the currency of Guatemala called a “Quetzal.” The beautiful bird is also the national bird of Guatemala.

Resplendent Quetzal, Kelly Jadon—Glass and Resin, 2024, For Sale

In this piece I created an artistic rendering of a Resplendent Quetzal using glass beads for the layered mosaics of the bird and the flowers. A large piece, it is covered in resin. It is for sale in my studio.

If you'd like to see it in person or host it for a time on loan, please contact me. Thank you!

(C) Kelly Jadon 2024

Where it all begins...

Where do I get these strange ideas—breaking up glass to make something new? I really don’t know. I just look at a piece of glassware—a teacup, a vase, a plate—and I think, “Could I do something with this?”

One of my scrap boxes

“Will the color work for a seahorse, a dolphin, or waves?”

I recently completed this piece, “Pinky Too,” a second repurposed dolphin glass sculpture. The dolphins are dimensional mosaics made of tiny pieces. The waves are a recycled vase or two with crushed glass applied to the tips. The dolphins are positioned, as jumping out of a long conical vase that’s been turned on its side. Little circular glass pieces adorn the entire piece, as if they are water bubbles.

Beneath the glass bricks is the base—a former glass picture frame.

I take cutters and break the glass into the shapes I need. For Christmas, I received a special pair of gloves to protect my hands while completing this task. Who’d have thought there was such a thing? :)

At times, I need very tiny pieces of glass. My cuttings are saved for this very purpose. Some of it is so small, it looks like its sand.

(C) Kelly Jadon 2024

The Quetzal

You see me,

my feathers, my tail, flitting far from my head

my influence flying over seas

far from me

You see me,

my rich royal colors alluring all to come and see

what I offer

but like a mirage

I am not what you see

but am as brown as the earth

my blood, the same as others

tinged

and like the others

have followed after falseness

an illusion

a mirage

of what is not really there

[The Resplendent Quetzal appears as a very colorful bird, but its plumage is actually brown.]

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2024

The Rainbow Seahorse

Life flows as river currents

yet we hold to what is good

what is secure

embedded in river’s bed

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Dolphin Dance Mosaic--Sold

Treasure Coast dolphins visit daily, cruising through shorelines and inlets. Fused and layered glass with resin, 9x11. (C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Treasure Coast Sea Turtle

Each year tiny hatchlings hear the wash of waves upon sand’s shallow shore

energetic eyes adjust to dawn’s light,

drawing them further down slope’s descent,

into waves’ swooshing waters

as younglings, they keep near seabed grasses for sustenance

they see, and are seen

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Pineapple Mosaic--SOLD!

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Cremation Urn for Pet Dog

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Green Tea Flyer Mosaic

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Seahorse Sealife--Sold!

Seahorse Sealife—stained glass, fused, layered, Kelly Jadon, 2023 SOLD

Hummers Take Flight, 2023

Hummers Take Flight: The hummingbirds that winter in Florida have flown north for the summer’s zinnias. The base of this stained piece is glass, painted with acrylic used a fluid technique. Parts of the layered glass mosaic are fused. For Sale at $75.00

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023

Butterfly Garden--Layered Glass Mosaic

Butterfly Garden, Kelly Jadon, 2023, SOLD

Approximately 200 types of butterflies migrate through Florida, while more than 160 kinds breed in the state. Some of these butterflies are only found in Florida within the continental United States.

Tropical Flyer--Layered Glass Mosaic

New Day--Layered Glass Mosaic

(C) 2023 Kelly Jadon

Bethlehem

Bethlehem

a cave

a birth

a Son

Bethlehem: Nativity 2021, Kelly Jadon $250

(C) Kelly Jadon, 2021

A New Life!

Today my daughter texted a photo to our family. There’s a new life preparing to be born! In that secret place, the baby is being knit together. It’s amazing what ultrasound technology reveals.

Life is precious. Life is brief. Like that of grass—it is green, ages and then is cut and returns to the earth. The life of a hummingbird is brief as well—between five and nine years, depending on the type. The majority don’t make it past one year.

Enjoy the flowers, the birds, the beauty of the earth while it is before you!

(C) Kelly Jadon, “Hummers” 2021, $70—No Longer Available