Galaxy-Cut Bowl

Designer Cary Ferguson (American, b. 1957)

Date1994

Dimensions3 7/8 × 11 1/2 in. (9.8 × 29.2 cm)

MediumColorless lead glass, mold-blown, applied with adhesive, cut and polished. Stone wheel cut blank, polished; eight recycled uranium glass protrusions, applied with HXTAL NYL-1 epoxy adhesive.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Thomas Owen, Jr., Teresa, and Kaitlyn Nicole Michnay

Object number

2010.32

Not on View

DescriptionWide shallow circular bowl; top rim of bowl has been cut flat with beveled edges. Cut overall in Galaxy pattern; no pontil.

Label TextCary Ferguson operates a glasscutting studio in Marblehead, Ohio. He trained in this technique with Walter Langan (1892–1983) of Cleveland, Ohio, and his Galaxy bowl resembles the patterns found on cut glass of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ferguson has added another component that references historical American glass. The green protrusions are made from a type of glass that contains trace amounts of uranium, which gives the glass its yellow-green color. Sometimes called Vaseline glass, this glass recipe was popular for making decorative pressed objects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When exposed to ultraviolet light, it will glow a rich green color.Comparative ReferencesSee also Susanne Frantz, Contemporary Glass, 1989, Cf. Tom and Marilyn Goodearl, Engraved Glass, Woodbridge, England : Antique Collectors' Club, 1999, pp. 65-66.