Glassware Group Show Glances Every Inch of the Art Form

Gravity-defying glass animal balloons sit suspended in the air held up by a copper string and a pair of whales push each other on a miniature swing set. This is just a taste of the wondrous imagery on display at the inaugural Simon Says exhibition at the Chesterfield Gallery. The show features an ethereal parade of contemporary glass sculpture from an eclectic lineup of international artists, including Kiva Ford and Joshua Bernbaum. The show reaffirms the boundless potential of glassware as a medium, with artworks that range from the abstract to the anatomical.

Glassblower Micah Evans offers up a number of intensely intricate pieces derived from simple classical forming techniques creating, “complicated meditations on purity, nature, and science,” according to the Gallery. The show also features another round of decorative art objects by Kiva Ford that insert whimsical animal figurines into utilitarian chem lab glass pieces. And then there is Christopher Windsor’s otherworldly sculptures that look like deep sea creatures or something out of a Halo campaign. As a whole, the show presents an intense variety of craftsmanship and vision.

The majority of works in the show are made from Borosilicate glass, a material known for having low coefficients of thermal expansion, meaning it's more resistant to temperature change because it does not expand like normal soda-lime glass. It's made from a combination of sand, sodium-carbonate, boric oxide, and limestone—the result is a less dense material with a higher melting point. Check out some more of our favorite pieces from the show below:

Simon Says is up at the Chesterfield Gallery on the Lower East Side until November 9th. For more information, click here.

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