A Communion of Subjects

In the piece, A Communion of Subjects, I am responding to concerns around threatened ecology and climate change. The table is set with glass pieces that are etched with “subjects”. The viewer is invited to the table, to the conversation of these subjects. Animals interacting with the road is a prominent theme, but some other inhabitants chime in, like the conservation-reliant pupfish and the stressed (and usually silent) coral. Tea towels with curated texts encourage the viewer to consider more deeply their relationships with the subjects. An inspiration guide is provided for those who would like to take a deeper dive into the ideas and books that inspired the work.

Conceptually, I choose glass because it shares the qualities of inherent beauty, value, and fragility of the subject matter. My artwork is distinctive in craft and innovative in technique. For these glass pieces, I melted a thin layer of blue glass on white glass. I made unique drawing for each piece which I translated to an emulsion film that was stuck on the blue surface of the glass and then sandblasted to etch down to the white glass. These pieces were placed on a colored piece of glass and fused and then slumped into a dish shaped mold.