MONICA GUGGISBERG & PHILIP BALDWIN

A Glass Opera – in Three Acts
For some time now our work has run in multiple directions. We have always remained consistently devoted to a classical "vessel" form, using this object as our primary source for exploring colour, cut, pattern, shape and subtleties of light. Twelve years ago, we began experimenting with the vessels - pulling them, stretching them, bending them and playing with their linear motion. From this was born our "guardian" and "courtesan" standing pieces.

Three years ago we embarked on a whole new body of work, the "Circus of Spheres", based on the simplest and most ubiquitous of universal forms; the sphere. Combined and strung like pearls on undulating metal strands, this process allows us to explore glass as free-form sculpture. We are neither limited by size or shape and remain reverentially associated with all that we know and love in glass. Whether blown hot or cut cold, it can be combined into stories, ideas, and themes from the world around us.

The line from a simple vessel to a piece like "The Gateway" traces a journey, with a kind of musical score - an operatic story of our two lives in glass. There are high notes and high drama - a true theatrical ambiance - with dialogue, laughter, surprise and spectacle.