a journey to the artists, origins and work of American craft
When people talk about
beauty, the conversation invariably turns to
nature, as we point to
sunsets, ocean views and magnificent
mountain ranges. Since early times,
artists have found inspiration in the
power and beauty of nature. Craft
artists have long looked to nature for
its materials—clay, wood, fiber, and
the rest. They also have borrowed its
motifs, patterns, and forms. Some
artists consider its beauty from a distance, while others concentrate on
nature close-up, noting tiny tendrils,
pods, antennae, and other details that
many of us overlook.
Like a botanical illustrator who
represents the tiniest floral details,
Paul Stankard is fascinated by the
often-overlooked elements of nature.
Growing up next to a forest where
he often found refuge as a child, the
artist now focuses on such details,
painstakingly replicating them with
minuscule threads of glass. Stankard
employs the process of flameworking,
or lampworking, in which he heats
up rods or tubes of glass that he then
manipulates into exquisitely detailed
natural forms.
As a student preparing to enter the
glass industry, Stankard honed his
skills creating precision instruments
and laboratory apparatus for the
chemical industry. In his spare time,
he experimented, making small glass
sculptures. Energized by these creative endeavors, Paul Stankard fused
his fascination with nature’s beauty
with his quest to perfect his work
with glass.
Stankard learned about the paperweight, an object that emerged during
the Victorian era, and saw
the possibility of encasing
his delicate glass blooms,
buds, and honeybees in a
glass dome. The magical
results invite meditation
and wonder. Stankard’s
paperweights have an underside layer
where the viewer may be surprised
to find tiny words nestled among
Paul Stankard, Swarming Honeybee Orb, c. 2004. Schaible Photography.
Saying, “My work is my prayer,” and
“A simple flower is a symbol of the
mystery of living things,” the spiri-
tual nature of his work is
“People who think that we’ve lost reiterated in the poems that
nature have never walked down a he often writes to accom-
”pany his glass pieces.
highway and studied the wild flowers. Over the years, Stan-
—Paul Stankard, glass artist kard has continued to push
the boundaries of his craft,
exploring new ways of representing
and encasing the exquisite beauty of
nature.
feathery roots. Minuscule root people
also inhabit the underside and, like
all parts of these botanical clusters,
have a role to play as the artist highlights the connectedness of all life
within the presence of the divine.
