Color, Science, and Glass ♿

This year we’re in search of things to appreciate and color is our starting place:  The deep blue of cobalt, a garnet red, a brilliant emerald green.  We’ll let you in on some local glass artists’ color stories (just because you love one particular shade of yellow, doesn’t mean it always loves you back.) And then, because where art and science connect is our happy place, we look at how these colors work on a more molecular level.  Whether glass is made of materials that reflect or absorb light, knowing that that great pink glass has some hidden gold in it, or that a ‘striking’ glass color will change significantly depending on the heat/cooling cycles used—all sorts of things influence the color of a piece. This is an exhibit exploring some of that chemistry and its effect on glass blowers’ working lives.

Artist Bio: David Smith was introduced to the art of glass blowing in 1978 while studying for a degree in materials science:  He was hooked. After graduation, he returned home to Seattle and started working full-time as a glass blower. Some travel let him get experience at a glass studio in Paris and a pottery workshop in Ireland. In 1992, he established his own studio/hot-shop in Ballard.