stephanie carlton-smith

My practice is driven foremost by my relationship with glass as a material that defines space and expresses aspects of the human psyche. The recurring imagery within my work has to be the containment of the fragmented interior representing our fractured core and the beauty its complexity can present. Whether it be glass rods, slabs of plate, even groups of test tubes, they are gathered together and held in place by absolute structures.These human associations can also be found within the materials with which the glass is juxtaposed. Alabaster is used to form both a symbolic and literal skin in which to hold the fractured glass and the play between material and form resonates with the viewer. My structures contain layers of meaning and reverberation; as light changes, so the work changes. It is our gaze that unites the individual fragments within the whole, and in turn, establishes the work’s existence.