Spheres of Influence: Glass Across UW

The power of shaping glass has played a critical role in the history of UW–Madison. Home to the first academic glass program in the nation, UW is known for moving glassmaking into the hands of American artists in the early 1960s. Spheres of Influence: Glass Across UW articulates the much longer history within which this development took place, where glass and its making have always been deeply entangled in the research and teaching enterprise of UW.

Glass has enabled us to see near, far, into, and beyond. This exhibition brings together glass from nine research and teaching collections across campus, offering different perspectives on: the definition of glass itself; the range of how the material can be shaped; and the methods of seeing and thinking made possible with this material.

Spheres of Influence: Glass Across UW foregrounds the material intelligence of this unique state of matter. This exhibition celebrates the embodied skills of glassmakers who make possible the imaginations of researchers across the arts and sciences, playing an instrumental role in UW’s history of innovation.

Curated by Helen Lee and Kagen Dunn

Spheres of Influence: Glass Across UW is part of Material Intelligence on view in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery from October 16, 2024 – March 9, 2025.

This exhibition is supported by the Anonymous Fund, the Chipstone Foundation, the Marilynn R. Baxter Fund, the University of Wisconsin – Madison Division of the Arts Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts, University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Education Impact 2030 Helen Burish Fund, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.