SOLID VASE FORM #72 (1999), BY SIDNEY R. HUTTER
ACQUIRED FROM JERALD MELBERG GALLERY, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, FEBRUARY 2000
LAMINATED AND CONSTRUCTED GLASS, 16 1/2" HIGH BY 9 1/4" IN DIAMETER, SIGNATURE ENGRAVED ON THE BASE BY THE ARTIST










Sidney Hutter is famous for his laminated glass works... his specialty is working with plate glass to create works that are in the forms of vases, but which are non-functional; there's no vase in the vase. To quote Sidney, "They hold nothing but the liquidity of light."

When I first saw this work at Jerald Melberg's show of Twenty Objects from the Late Twentieth Century, I was amazed at how its appearance changes, depending on the viewing angle. This effect is achieved by using colored glue between clear panes of glass. When the panes of glass are laminated together in the shape of a vase, you see either more or less color, depending on the viewing angle. To make things interesting, the outer edges of each layer are ground and nicked, so that the refractive effect of the edges is distorted.

This work was originally intended to appear in the show Millennium Glass: An International Survey of Studio Glass, sponsored by the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation... in fact, it's on page 26 of the catalog for the show. Unfortunately for them, I acquired the work before it made it to the show. :-)

I really like the neat things you can do with glass... this is yet another great example of taking a simple idea and creating something really beautiful with it.

As you scroll down this page, each successive image shows the viewpoint lowered by just a few inches... this lets you see the effect I described above.

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