SAND, ASH, HEAT: REFLECTIONS ON CONTEMPORARY GLASS IN NEW ORLEANS
- Kaja Knowers
- Jan 12
- 2 min read
In December 2024, I had the pleasure of visiting Sand, Ash, Heat: Glass, an exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art that brought together contemporary glass artists from across the Americas. Set against Louisiana’s rich and complex history, this exhibition explored glass not only as a material shaped by fire, but also as a vessel of cultural memory, identity, and place.
As a glass artist working mainly with recycled and cast glass, I was drawn to how the show celebrated transformation. These works didn’t just sparkle — they spoke. Stories of diaspora, climate grief, migration, labour, and resistance emerged through blown forms, hot sculpture, pâte de verre, neon, and cold assembly. All techniques stood proudly side by side.
One piece that truly impressed me on a technical level was the 1987 “Ghost” chair designed by Cini Boeri with Tomu Katayanagi. What made it special was that it was slumped from a single glass piece, something us glass artists know is no mean feat. To see that level of mastery in action, marrying design with material challenge, was a highlight of the show.
The exhibition’s title — Sand, Ash, Heat — perfectly captured glass’s essence, both literally and metaphorically. Raw materials burned, fused, melted, and remade, much like the histories and identities woven throughout the exhibition. Many works carried a quiet urgency, using glass not just for beauty but as a medium for truth.
Pieces using salvaged float glass to reimagine architecture lost to natural disasters and others embedding ash into cast surfaces subtly referenced loss and resilience. It reminded me why I fell in love with glass in the first place. As a material that carries time, memory, and transformation.
That visit was more than inspiration. It was validation. My own practice, which explores the body, memory, and change, felt seen in new ways. I left New Orleans with a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
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