Karen Wallace

Rich blue, electric marigold, sparkling iridescence, complex patterned murrine, floating threads of glass, and raised rings of glass powder. You'll want to run your fingers over them every time you walk by. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. Fused, coldworked and slumped.

Land and sea meet and mingle, bright springy greens swirling with oceanic blue. Thin discs of paler blue float above, casting a shadow onto the sea floor. Like a drift of anemones, a gathering of cylinders of hand-pulled cane divides the watery quadrants. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane, which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. Hundreds of them are placed by hand onto a ceramic surface, standing together in a tight formation, and heated until they soften and puddle together to form a slab. Fused, cold worked and slumped.

Taffy-like ripples of black and white over marigold yellow, complex patterned murrine, floating threads of glass, and raised rings of glass powder. You'll want to run your fingers over them every time you walk by. Threads of black glass, scattered over creamy vanilla, one segment shining with iridescence, set the tempo for the symphony. Look into the edge, and you can look under the black glass threads! You can't help but touch the three-dimensional wafers of powdered glass, marching in time over a grid of floating lines. Segments of patterned glass cane sport swirling half-circles and juicy yellow centers. Others contain complex patterns of creamy lines in their centers. Along the rim, you can look into the middle of the cane. In one quadrant, taffy-like ripples of black and white float over marigold yellow. Across the bowl, stripes of parchmenty vanilla surround a floating block of melted and rippling cream. On the back, strands of black glass are scattered. There's something new to see every time you look at the composition. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane, which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. Fused, coldworked, and slumped.

A field of glass murrine transitions from turquoise to tangerine as it sweeps across the bowl, divided by a meandering ladder of blue and orange, reminiscent of the Golden Gate Bridge. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane, which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. The gradient of murrine as it moves around the bowl reveals a chronology of the glass cane as it emerged from the crucible. Fused, cold worked and slumped.

Bright red-orange ripples, sparkling iridescence, and complex patterned murrine abut rings of glass powder atop a grid of gray tiles seamed with black mortar. In contrast with the glossy smoothness of the rest of the bowl, the rings have irregular edges, thick rims, and stand off the surface to make the piece very tactile. You'll want to run your fingers over them every time you walk by. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane, which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. Fused, cold worked, and slumped.

Bubbly pink, electric yellow, sparkling iridescence, complex patterned murrine, floating threads of glass, and raised rings of glass powder. You'll want to run your fingers over them every time you walk by. The glass cylinders in this bowl are sections individually cut from hand-pulled glass cane which I create by heating glass to 1500 degrees and pulling it into rods while molten in a modern-day adaptation of the 16th century techniques of the Murano glassmakers. Fused, coldworked and slumped.