Vicki Schneider - USA

15 x 12 x 11     This flameworked and blown soda lime glass sculpture was inspired by my mother's garden. I was always fascinated by this species and couldn't comprehend how such beautiful, paper-like flowers existed. Specifically with the Lifeforms exhibition in mind, I experimented over several months to discover a way to mimic what's found in nature. My greatest challenge was how to create the allusion of textured lanterns which I accomplished by strategically applying a variety of encased stringers on top of the blown and sculpted orbs. I selected specific color combinations ranging from gray to light red to communicate the lanterns' varying stages of maturity. I also wanted to give the allusion of dappled light passing through the highly-veined, green leaves. I accomplished this by melting and layering a selection of pastel and transparent rods of glass and manipulating the resulting paddle to form each unique leaf