Amber Cowan Repurposes Glass Knickknacks for Elaborate Sculptures

In the field of contemporary glass art production, where many practitioners are creating large-scale and hypermodern-looking pieces, the work of the Philadelphia-based Amber Cowan stands out. Cowan digs through thrift stores to find old American glass objects from the 1940s through the 1980s, which she then re-fires and re-works into intricate, rococo designs. In addition to being extremely delicate and feminine, the pieces emanate a strong sense of history and nostalgia for American household artifacts. In some of the works, Cowan incorporates factory scraps and small knickknacks like glass kittens and horses. These serve to refer us back to the original discarded objects that Cowan salvaged, smashed up and recycled. Additionally, many of the works, such as Rosalind and Chocolate, are thematically based on a color that has its own specific history in the factory production of American glass.