TRACE 2024: An Exploration of Sustainable Art
GAS Green Exhibition
Launched in 2021 and under the GAS Green Task Force’s review, this annual exhibition is an opportunity for artists to showcase how and in what ways sustainability shows up in their practice. This digital exhibition, juried for inclusion and awards by a panel selected by the Green Task Force, offers individuals an opportunity to showcase their work without the environmental impact of shipping and traveling.
The 2024 Green Exhibition jurors were:
Ivan Bestari Minar Pradipta, artist + designer, Indonesia
Hannah Gibson, artist, United Kingdom
Riikka Latva-Somppi, artist, researcher, + curator, Finland
Paul Musgrove, artist + gallery owner, Scotland
“With submissions from 18 different countries, TRACE 2024 demonstrates the importance of working with glass sustainably for artists around the world. This year’s entries also represent a wide variety of glassmaking techniques including kiln forming, pâte de verre, furnace working, and flameworking–the need to be more sustainable has reached all facets of the glass community.”
First Place | “Midden” by Karen Browning + Jon Lewis
Karen Browning + Jon Lewis (📍United Kingdom), "Midden," B&O Beovision 1 television - glass, copper aluminium, plastic, resin, steel, hot cast, kiln cast, and machined, 2024. 120 x 9 x 165 cm.
Artist Statement: Historically, domestic waste dumps (middens), were filled with predominantly organic materials which decomposed. Now, plastics leave indelible traces in the rock strata. Today’s culture sees useful appliances and products being discarded prematurely. Core drilling began as a method of sampling rock for ore deposits, mining, and oil exploration. For our project, we dismantle older CRT televisions completely into their base materials of glass, copper, aluminium, steel, and Plastics. We melt, cast, forge, press, grind, polish, and machine these materials and piece them back together to emulate mining core samples using the entirety of each television.
Second Place (4 Way Tie) | “Thames Glass” by Lulu Harrison
Lulu Harrison (📍United Kingdom), "Thames Glass," mold-blown sand, wood ash, shells, flux, 2022. Photo credit: Ben Turner. 26 x 33 x 10 cm.
Artist Statement: As a researcher and maker in sustainable material development, I’m interested in creating glass artefacts inspired by primitive glass making and working with local/waste resources, with as little impact on the environment as possible. The design behind my pieces is inspired by the materials used to make them and place of origin. This way of making glass is a lost art, but has exciting opportunities to revive the threatened industry. The process involved is considered an artform in itself, combining historic techniques with scientific development in material production.
Second Place (4 Way Tie) | Golden Tree Paperweight by Lynden Over and Christine Robb
Lynden Over + Christine Robb (📍 New Zealand), "Golden Tree Paperweight," hot-sculpted glass, 2023. 17 x 11 x 11 cm.
Artist Statement: Trees are more valuable than Gold! In our new body of work, we embraced the recent decade of growing awareness of climate vulnerability, transformed our studio to produce 100% sustainable artwork, and now use our glass art to drive awareness of the climate emergency. This series consists of trees, coated in gold leaf and gold dust, captured in glass orbs representing the invaluable role of trees in nature. We play on the dichotomy of gold and trees asking the audience to think about which is more valuable to human existence.
Second Place (4 Way Tie) | Architectural Panel by Balázs Telegdi
Balázs Telegdi (📍Hungary), "Architectural Panel," vitreographed glass, glass threads, float glass, aluminum, silicone, 2023. Photo credit: Anett Demeter. 1200 x 750 x 9 mm per panel.
Artist Statement: The unadvised, forbidden, or to-be-avoided, are aspects I search for. I use these unwanted qualities of glass as core value of my works, questioning the validity of such advises, reflecting on the creativity that can be achieved when these walls are demolished. In my search for new expressions, I often find myself building a machine, or testing something that has a potential of brutally failing. But, most of the time there is something exciting among the results, something novel maybe. And that small thing is what keeps me moving.
Second Place (4 Way Tie) | DAILY DOSE by Marta Ramírez
Marta Ramírez (📍Colombia), "DAILY DOSE," flameworked and cold worked borosilicate glass, 2023. 11 x 4 x 4".
Artist Statement: By using lampworking techniques, I want to allow the material to run freely, without imposing anything to it. For that, my work is clearly inspired by water, because there is a permanent exploration of the similarities between this element and glass-like material. In my work I propose recreating the static moments of the moving water, allowing them to achieve their own nature. I want to do a tribute to water, one of the four elements, primordial essence of nature, in danger of extinction, as a means of preserving its image through a timeless material like glass.
Cristine Baena (📍Brazil/Spain), "Glastree," cut and cold worked beer bottles, metal, 2023. 86 x 57 x 57 cm. Artist Statement: Glasstree is about our connection to others and to the flow. A tree made of glass that can sparkle and bring people together. Minds and heads together and working for something better and new. Our planet will have its cure from within...from people that inhabit it and learn to heal wounds. When we treat the glass bottle with respect and love we are creating a new cycle for it. Teaching and learning happen when we are ready.
Kārlis Bogustovs (📍Latvia), "Glass skateboarding for J.Rosenthal Square," upcycled, layered kiln-formed glass, metal, cast concrete, cut stone, 2021. 250 x 92 x 10 cm (glass). Photo credit: Nauris Dollins. 180 x 250 x 200 cm (ramp), 300 x 54 x 42 cm (bench), 42 x 15 x 8 cm (each window).
Lynden Over + Christine Robb (📍 New Zealand), "Golden Tree Paperweight," hot-sculpted glass, 2023. 17 x 11 x 11 cm.
Jennifer Crescuillo (📍United States), "GemZ," kiln-quenched and colle de verre glass cullet, kiln gems, glue, 2023. 13 x 7 x 8".
Róisin de Buitléar (📍Ireland), "Climate Hero Awards," hot-formed and caneworked recycled chandelier pieces, metal pins, ribbons, 2023. 8.5 x 4 x 1.4 cm.
Celia Garland (📍United States), "No Blue, No Green," flameworked and cold worked bottle glass, 2023. 10 x 4 x 4".
Olaf Giertz (📍Germany), "Karaffe aus Altglas mit farbigem Glasrand in Incalmo Glastechnik," blown glass, 2023. 25 x 7 cm.
Nancy Wu + Jean Davis, "Breath of a Whale," Victorian-era landfill glass and stained glass discards adhered with resin, 2023. 16 x 14 x 17".
Steve Jensen (📍United States), "Voyage to Valhalla," recycled glass, boat resin, sea salt, found beach steel, 2023. 9 x 30 x 9".
Karen Browning + Jon Lewis (📍United Kingdom), "Midden," B&O Beovision 1 television - glass, copper aluminium, plastic, resin, steel, hot cast, kiln cast, and machined, 2024. 120 x 9 x 165 cm.
Saman Kalantari (📍Iran/Italy), "Untitled", Pâte de verre, 2023. 18x8x8 cm.
Natalia Komorowska (📍Poland), "Glass and Voice - necklace," flameworked glass, metal, 2023. 50 x 5 x 30 cm.
Karen Lise Krabbe (📍Denmark), "No Title," gelled glass, moldless pâte de verre, 2023. Photo credit: Kasper Agergaard. 8.5 x 11 x 11 cm.
Radhika Krish (📍United States/India), "Transformed spirits," kiln formed glass, 2023. 15 x 15 x 2.5".
Eunkyoung Kim (📍South Korea), "Re; Code," laminated borosilicate glass, 2023. Dimensions vary.
Susana Martin (📍Spain), "TEJIDO POR AGUA I live near a river, and I see how its flow decreases due to drought. The water leaves a plant tissue stuck on the banks. Made with small recycled pieces of glass that I turn into threads and on an old nail on a piece of ebony wood, found in the trash.," kiln formed and cold worked glass, iron, wood, 2024. 25 x 20 x 10 cm.
Roberta Mason (📍Wales), "Superhero Seagrass I," re-melted waste glass, cane formed and blown, 2023. Photo credit: Stephen Heaton. 21 x 22 x 22 cm.
Veronika Mileva (📍Bulgaria), "Corals," fused and cold worked glass, 2022. Dimensions vary.
Linda Norris (📍Wales), "Shattered (Chenin Blanc)," UV glue, glass, 2023. 15 x 11 x 2 cm.
Ramona Pauli (📍Germany), "found in a bottle," cut, polished, sandblasted, and glued bottle glass, silicone, wood, 2023. Photo credit: Oliver Mohn. 25 x 80 x 60 cm.
Aaron Peters (📍United States), "Straight ahead," found glass (Detroit, May 2023), white gold overglaze, lead, steel, copper, 2023. 6 x 7 x 11".
Lori Polak (📍Mexico/United States), "Shoes....the poetry of passage.....", cast glass, 2022. Photo credit: Dave Harrison. 4 x 12 x 48".
Marta Ramírez (📍Colombia), "DAILY DOSE," flameworked and cold worked borosilicate glass, 2023. 11 x 4 x 4".
Mariana Sabbatella (📍Argentina), "El Rey - The King," recycled glass from Bank of Argentina teller boxes, image transfer, 2022. Photo credit: Martín Sabbatella Abascal. 40 x 40 x 22 cm.
Lisa Schnellinger (📍United States), "Under Pressure," kiln formed tempered glass shards, 2022. 140 x 96 x 7.5 cm.
Balázs Telegdi (📍Hungary), "Architectural Panel," vitreographed glass, glass threads, float glass, aluminum, silicone, 2023. Photo credit: Anett Demeter. 1200 x 750 x 9 mm per panel.
Jane Vincent (📍England), "The Residency Journal 2023," painted leaded stained glass, lead, metal, wood, 2023. Photo credit: Agata Pec. 64 x 3 x 64 cm.
Peter Wiechenthaler (📍Austria/Italy), "Röthelbach - This glass plant emerges layer by layer (466) from recycled window glass, intertwining with driftwood. It transforms the old into the new. As the world darkens, the cherished and revitalized old begin to illuminate, symbolizing a beacon of renewal," cold worked float glass, driftwood, LED lighting, 2023. Photo credit: Jürgen Eheim. 95 x 14 x 45 cm.
Marzena Wilk (📍Poland), "Green spots of hope," kiln-formed glass, stone, 2023. 56 x 49 x 5 cm.