Excitement is brewing in the pit of my belly with only two weeks to go till the opening of #NewGlassNow !!

I am very excited to be part of this seminal exhibition at the Corning Museum of Glass. For years I have submitted images of my works to the New Glass Review, of which I made it into the publication twice.

It is a moment to be cherished, when one’s work is recognised on a global scale – in an independently juried publication of international creative glass trends and developments.

The previous international exhibition of this scale held at the Museum was in 1979!! This show was titled New Glass: A Worldwide Survey  which “…spurred individual and institutional collecting across the globe, garnering new scholarly attention, and promoting continued artistic innovation. New Glass Now stands to make a similar impact today.”

In the opening line of the preface in the 1979 publication, by the then president and director of the Corning Museum of Glass, Thomas S. Buechner, he says:

’This exhibition is about a profound change that is taking place in the history of glass: after thirty-five centuries of utilitarian use – from containers and window panes to television tubes and laser transmitting fibres – glass has become the amorphous substance from which functionless art is made. Suddenly, and in addition to its evolving roles in science, industry, housewares, and the crafts, glass has become a medium of the fine arts, a material in which to conceive and create – often directly – for pure aesthetic purposes.’

Now, forty years later these words still ring true. Glass has become the most integral material in contemporary society.

Even in its utilitarian uses glass is redefining human interaction. Just think of it: You are looking at a glass screen at these words; every day you stroke the smooth surface of your phone or tablet; every day you take a photo… of something.

I submitted my Pocket Lens for New Glass Now.

Pocket Lens is not a traditional sculpture. It is a solid glass hand crafted lens. It is meant to be held. I used the format of my own smart phone as guide and was inspired by the exultations in ads of the new ‘all glass!’ models.

Thinking of how these little digital portals affect our (and my own) daily lives I wanted to make something similar – but totally different.

For years I have worked with the idea of how glass transforms light – reflecting and refracting photons – and how we, as individuals perceive these changes through various vitreous portals.

My Pocket Lenses are to be handled, to be looked through, felt – with your eyes and your hands. They are beautifully sculpted manifestations of an experience.

Pocket Lenses are intentionally absurd. They make fun of our uncontrollable curiosity, that flicking of the thumb down a newsfeed, of that image which will garner so many likes…