Goode Glass FINAL (6-26-23) - Flipbook - Page 42
Paul Joseph Stankard
P
OETRY OF NATURE is the principal theme of Paul Joseph Stankard’s (born 1943)
creative practice, both as an artist and a writer. He sensitively captures fleeting
moments observed in the natural surroundings near his studio in South Jersey,
interpreted in intricate small glass sculptures. These internal worlds are composite
artifices akin to still lifes rather than realistic models, perceptively considered, artfully arranged,
and expertly crafted. Delicate glass components representing blossoms, leaves, roots, and insects
are sculpted by this American master flameworking at the torch, then encased in
a flawless customized glass formula from the manufacturer Schott AG.
The artist initially trained and worked as a scientific flameworker in industry before establishing
his own studio in 1972 as an independent artist. His extraordinary skill and creative talent
soon surpassed the classic models of floral paperweights, highly collectable at the time, made
by established French glass companies in the nineteenth century. While these small historic
predecessors were tied to their function, flattened at the bottom to hold down sheafs of paper
and viewed from the top, Stankard expanded his repertoire to perfect large orbs, obelisks, and
monolithic plaques enclosing specimen-like multiples. Their internal arrangements were largely
inspired by local plants and insects, which the artist carefully studied in their native habitat.
His special interest in bees — prompted by the poet Walt Whitman’s observation of the “hairy
bee” — extended to installing a beehive in the wall of his studio. Still, his self-contained worlds
always remain referential rather than representational. The artist prefers that their complex,
subtle fragility should instill respect for living things, rather than admiration for the inherent
technical wizardry.
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