Glory Studies of Unexplained Events

States of energy and transformation are key elements when working with glass. The sites for such activity are furnaces, kilns, torches, and reheating furnaces known as glory holes. The term “glory hole” cannot be separated from its vernacular sexual connotations, translated into the studio context as a glowing hole where material transforms or ignites, a space ripe with metaphors of “burning desire” and sexual climax.

Glory Studies of Unexplained Events alters two large glory holes, staging a series of vignettes that were inspired by crime scene dioramas made in the 1940s by Frances Lee Glesner. Known as the Nutshell Studies, Lee Glesner published the dioramas in 2004 book titled Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths. These diminutive scale models recount the unexplained drama of unsolved crimes, capturing the potential for objects and materials to be clues. Instead of unexplained crime scenes, Glory Studies enlists a progression of objects and material transformations that narrate stories of romance and tension through heat, energy, and destruction. Evoking silent film music performances, pianist Ai Isshiki accompanies these sequences/actions on her piano soundboard.

Participants: J Fan, Gayle Foreman, Andrew Hughes, Hannah Kirkpatrick, Miho Ogai, Katie Pinette, Anna Riley, Hilary Wang, Chris Wolston and Ai Isshiki (piano)