A triangle of crimson orange glass meets a vertical rectangle of pale emerald, which, when you look closer, you realize also features bisecting layers of clear glass, adding to the geometric complexity. There's a reflection, but you can also see through the different layers of glass. The time it takes to figure out what you're looking at in the detail of Larry Bell's 2025 Cantaloupe but Honeydew on the cover of the Winter 2025 edition of Glass is the point. Much, if not all of Larry Bell's glass sculpture is concerned with light, space, and perception. In this issue's cover article, Bell shares his journey from dropping out of art school to discovering the power of glass while working in a frame shop, to becoming one of the most important American artists and a pioneer of the Light and Space Movement. For quite possibly the first time, Bell shares the details of his discovery of the multi-dimensional interactions of glass and light, as well as his journey to mastering thin-film coatings and how he embraced this industrial technology to create artworks that interacted with light in ways the art world had never seen.
This issue also includes an in-depth report on the Refract glass event in Seattle. Regular Glass magazine correspondent Ellye Sevier did her level best to cover the sprawling four-day festival of Northwest Coast glass, now in its seventh year, and found that this decentralized celebration of the material might be an example of how the glass world is evolving away from the hierarchical world governed by wealthy glass collectors and the galleries that serve them, and into a more diverse and complex network that mirrors the community as it has evolved.
Glass magazine's London-based contributing editor, Emma Park, caught up with David Landau and his wife, Marie-Rose Kahane, for an in-depth profile of how this couple arrived in Venice only to discover that the legacy that drew them there was threatened by globalization and the lack of institutional support. They set about to address this, applying their considerable knowledge of the art world and philanthropic efforts, to create Le Stanze del Vetro, where the accomplishments of the great glasshouses and designers are preserved through serious scholarship and curatorial study. Landau also was one of the prime movers behind the establishment of The Venice Glass Week, which nourishes continued interest in new generations of designers and artists, as well as promotes the success of their businesses by offering an international stage for exhibitions and presentations.
Also in this issue, contributing editor William V. Ganis examines Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez’s work as the Speed Art Museum’s first Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award recipient, a new opportunity which includes a residency and exhibition at the museum.
And the final feature is the 2026 Glass Quarterly Directory of Educational Programs and Suppliers to the Field. the most complete and fully-updated listing of all the places on Earth to study glass, including for a university degree, and where to buy tools and materials for your practice.
Five exhibition reviews, a back-page essay, and all the latest news from the world of glass art and design rounds out the Winter 2025 issue, which is available for purchase. Better yet, subscribe to Glass and don't miss a single issue.