A glass artist sees Earth as a precious little blue marble (literally) | Josh Simpson | TEDxBoston

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A glassblower and an astronaut walk into a farm...

Not a joke set up, but the everyday story of glass artist Josh Simpson and his wife, astronaut Cady Coleman. Their farm doubles as a workshop where Josh creates beautiful artworks in glass, a medium he's been exploring and mastering for 50 years.

Her travels (and an inadvertent promise to an 8th grade class) inspired him to turn his craft to a new subject--little glass planets that you can hold in your hand. The image and the material points to the fragility and preciousness of our own little blue marble, planet Earth.

These invented, forged worlds have evolved into stunning and poignant works displayed all across the world and even into the stars on the International Space Station. Josh's beautiful glass planets, and all they represent, became the visual inspiration for TEDxBoston Planetary Stewardship theme. Josh Simpson is a glass artist whose vibrantly colored vessels and sculpture are often inspired by astrophysical themes. A pioneer of the studio glass movement, Simpson has spent half a century inventing new formulas and making glass objects that combine his fascination with color, form, pattern and complexity, with his interest in the workings of the universe. His iconic Planets evoke imaginary worlds that might exist in distant galaxies, while New Mexico Glass resembles swirling seas or the starry night sky, and Corona Glass evokes deep space phenomena.

Simpson’s glass has been displayed in the White House and numerous museums including the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, Yale University Art Gallery, and Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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