An alternative to the sand-and-fire explanations of the origins of glass comes not from glass artists, curators or critics, but from science.
University of Washington geologist Paul Johnson found glass sponges thought to be extinct in these parts for 100 million years, in U.S. waters off the Washington coast, about 30 miles west of Grays Harbor. P-I story by Lisa Stiffler here.
At last, William Morris’ abrupt retirement from his glass art career makes sense. No artists retire at 50, unless they can’t cut it anymore for physical or mental reasons. Even then, most keep going. DeKooning continued to paint as his mind erased itself, and countless others, their hands bent to claws, strap brushes to their wrists and push on.
But Morris is a deep-sea diving kind of guy who’d rather read about natural science than art any day. He must have been dreaming of sponges. Thanks to them, he might now be preparing an underwater come back. If nobody but fish and fellow divers are there to see it, fine with him.
My profile of Morris here.