Glass art can take many different forms, from highly valuable Tiffany lamps to mind-blowing glass installations that adorn public spaces and museum halls around the world. Glass art is beautiful, captivating, and unique in many ways. It is no wonder that hand-crafted sculptures, vases, and décor pieces created by contemporary glass art masters are now as popular as never before. Josh Simpson is, without a doubt, one of the best American artists working in glass today, and this blog post is dedicated to his amazing art.
Contemporary Glass Art by Josh Simpson
Josh Simpson (b. 1949) is an American glass artist who began his career in 1972. He is known around the world for his magnificent planets created in the form of glass paperweights that range in size from mega planets, such as the one weighing 107 pounds, which was made for the Corning Museum of Glass, to really small pieces, each measuring about an inch in diameter. These amazing works of art were inspired by the Apollo astronauts and their description of Earth, who saw our planet hanging in space like a blue marble. It is interesting that Josh Simpson is married to the retired NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, who has logged 159 days in space.
In addition to his glass planets, Josh Simpson is known for his works made from the so-called “Tektite glass” that resembles lava and vibrant blue “New Mexico glass” that is often used by the artist to create elegant vases, bowls, and platters. Simpson’s contemporary glass art in its great variety is in many private and public collections, including the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the above-mentioned Corning Museum of Glass. His works also frequently appear at various gallery exhibitions held around the world.