Behind the Glass: Meet the Artist Mark Peiser

Mark Peiser is an innovator and an American studio glass pioneer who has never hesitated to explore new directions in glass and glassmaking techniques. Since 1967, he has developed series of works that are vastly different from one another, from his cased and blown Paperweight Vases of the 1970s and early 1980s, depicting trees and domestic interiors in hot-applied cane drawings, to his mysterious and precise cast and cut sculptures of the 1980s inspired by the planets. More recently, he created a special glass formulation for his Palomar series of sculptures that pay homage to Corning Glass Works’ famous 200-inch Disk, the telescope mirror cast in 1934 for the Mt. Palomar Observatory in California. Peiser will talk about the experiences, thoughts, and developments that led to his commitment and confidence to undertake the Palomar series and he’ll explore how that series will inform future work. He’ll discuss the thinking and lessons learned from previous bodies of work that led to his work on the Palomar series
“Thinking myself a glassmaker in 1976, at Corning I saw the failed first cast of the 200 inch Palomar mirror and was humbled and inspired. At intervals, over the years since, I attempted to devise a body of work to reflect those feelings but never felt up to the task. Until 2007.”
This lecture is part of the Behind the Glass lecture series, which takes place the second Thursday of the month. These events include the Museum’s popular Meet the Artist lectures, as well as talks by curators and other specialists in the fields of glass, art and archaeology. http://www.cmog.org/programs/lectures-seminars/behind-the-glass