Mastering the Unpredictable Dance of Glass

Courage and confidence are essential for an artist who steps before a live audience, day after day, and puts her skills on display, starting each new piece completely from scratch, but to do so while working with a material as unpredictable and volatile as glass also requires prodigious skill and a great deal of flexibility. “What I love about the creative process with glass is that it is challenging,” says artist Catherine Ayers. “There will always be new skills to learn,” she adds, “and different ways to work with the material.” Working with glass is like an intimate dance between the artist and a temperamental material as hot as molten lava. The artist must be the sort of partner who leads, but is also willing to follow at times, who does not merely try to force the material to her will, but works with it and senses in which direction the two must move in order to achieve the desired results which is something Catherine excels at while creating colorful, playful pieces that reflect her own whimsical, creative, colorful personality.

Watch Catherine and other glass artists perform live hot glass demonstrations daily at The Corning Museum of Glass.