Issue 183 | Summer
Editor's Letter
by Andrew Page
In a summer of uncertainty, with conflicts around the world, it is reassuring to look back and reassess. For the cover article, we catch up with the legendary B Team as it reunites at the Glass Art Society’s Corning conference after more than two decades. In case you hadn’t heard, this performance art troupe shook up the preciousness of the 1990s glass scene with a punk-rock attitude that embraced the energy of molten glass rather than the resulting objects. Their now-legendary performances leaned into the shape-shifting nature of the material as well as its danger to create dazzling spectacles in the hot shop. So why are the B Team reuniting at this particular moment? According to its founder, Zesty Meyers, it has always been about “having the guts and doing this,” and he believes we are at a moment where people might feel worried, overwhelmed, and paralyzed by all that is going on, and the message of the B Team—to face fears, collaborate, and break rules—is more important than ever.
In Britain, Helen Restorick made the risky decision to leave behind her successful family medicine practice to become a full-time glass artist after she became transfixed by the fluid dynamics of glass. Restorick was entranced by how layersof glass behave in the darkness of the kiln, emerging as records of moments when everything shifted, as contributing editor Emma Park recounts in her feature profile that unlocks the ideas behind Restorick’s portraits of time frozen that gives them a particularrelevanceas so much around us is shifting.
Elsewhere in the issue, a giant of Swedish glass,Bertil Vallien,who came to New York for a retrospective exhibition, sits down with Glass to share his perspective on an illustrious career,which was driven by his embrace of the power of American experimental energy, which he channeled to revitalize the Åfors glass company by empowering individual glass masters, an important reminder of the power of change.
With Seattle’s Pratt Fine Art Center turning 50,Ellye Sevier examines the little-known but critical role this community art center has played in the history of Northwest glass, despite being overshadowed by Pilchuk and otherbetter-known glass programs.
And finally, the architectural poetry of the late Chris Cosma (1956–2025) is remembered by his son, Julian, who reflects on a life and career capturing luminous atmospheres in glass.
Reviews
Wendy Red Star at Sargent’s Daughters, New York City; Michael Aschenbrenner at Kim Manfredi Gallery, Cathedral City, California; Louise Bourgeois at Hauser & Wirth, New York City; Group Exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, New York
UrbanGlass News
Reflection: Thaddeus Mosley (1926–2006): Clarity in a Life Creative
by John Drury
Features
Rebooting the Bteam
by Andrew Page
Decades after the orange jumpsuits came off for good in 1999, the performance-art collaborative is reuniting. Glass traces how a Corning Museum initiative to archive the B Team’s legendary output of glass performance art sparked a documentary project and a reunion performance more than 25 years later.
The Sandman Tells All
by Andrew Page
Bertil Vallien on preserving the work of the hand, the miraculous process of sand-casting glass, and how he has made peace as a designer and artist.
An Expansive Luminosity
by Julian Cosma
A son contemplates the life and work of his father, Chris Cosma (1956–2025).
The Backbone
by Ellye Sevier
Grounding Seattle’s glass scene for a half-century, Pratt Fine Arts has provided year-round access to glass facilities at crucial points in artists’ careers, all while operating in the shadow of better-known glass programs.
All Things Flow
by Emma Park
Helen Restorick left behind a successful medical career to pursue her fascination with the fluid dynamics of molten glass in the kiln.