Landscapes in Light and Glass

Using glass, stone, metal and water (sometimes metaphorical water), these “landscapes in light and glass” narrative and contemplative sculptures to bring vast landscapes indoors. Light is important to me: fiber optics, LED, incandescent, or ambient. The pedestal of the landscape is carefully designed as an integral part of the whole sculpture.

I have a strong sense of place. These pieces reflect memories and visions of an environment special to me. Some of these pieces are prototypes for walk-through landscapes.

All the News That’s Fit to Print

When I moved to California from the east coast, I thought most of the east coast news must have gotten caught on a fence on the Continental Divide. Here it is, caught. Materials: Slumped white drapery glass, gravel, granite rods and porphyry mountains. Lit from within. Metal canister pedestal.

Looking West at Sunset

Inspired by a sunset seen through bare winter trees. Materials: Glass rods, plate glass, gravel, rocks, sandblasted flat glass, and palm fibers, with sheet steel surround. Lit by LEDs on a programmable sequencer.

The Island

Inspired by a visit to Ryoanji Zen garden in Kyoto. Materials: Plate glass columns set in a landscape of gravel, stones and slate. Glass is cut, sandblasted and laminated. Lit from within. Bamboo wood pedestal.

First Light, Beside the Pond

Abstracted from view out the window of early morning mist on the pond, on September 11, 2001. The attacks had not yet happened. It was one of those magical moments. Materials: Plate glass, airbrushed and slumped; palm fibers, porphyry rocks, gravel, on glass with ambient lighting. Driftwood pedestal.

Glass is the starting point for all my work. Whether the glass is cast, coldworked, bent, fused, and/or airbrushed depends on the specific effect I seek. The works have an understated elegance based on Zen principles of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. While not overtly spiritual, they often evoke a spiritual response. They move us out of our everyday existence by providing the viewer a reason to pause, to support 'being' rather than 'doing.'

Recycling: Many of the materials I use are found or recycled. Winning an award as Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco's Recycling Center and Solid Waste Transfer Station in 1995 both validated my recycling habits and gave me access to new materials. In 2006, I won a cash award from the California Department of Conservation for a set of my Archival Footprints™ tiles. Most of my pieces are not readily recognizable as incorporating recycled materials because I feel strongly that art from recycled materials does not necessarily have to be funny or funky.

Landscapes in Light and Glass

All the News That’s Fit to Print

Looking West at Sunset

The Island

First Light, Beside the Pond

Penelope's work can also be found at: