Making Connections With Glass

When Chris Mosley was in elementary school, he was the kid who was always behind in his work. While other students dutifully read in class, he got in trouble for drawing because he was more interested in creating his own stories than reading someone else’s.

Fast-forward to today, and the creativity that got him in trouble as a kid now enables him to flourish as an artist, flameworking and blowing glass in his studio in Santa Cruz, California. 

Mosley’s Social Networking Project is an interactive artwork, where passersby hold glass rods wherever they’d like on an ever-growing sculpture. Mosley then fuses them into place with a torch, connecting the glass rods in a technique called “networking” (see what he did there?).

“I was doing glass demos, and noticed everyone was bored,” said Mosley. “I could tell they thought, ‘Cool, glass. OK. I’m moving on.’ So I wondered how I could get people to engage, and it just came to me: Why don’t I let them be a part of this?”

The results are unique glass sculptures that reflect the imaginations of their participants, as audience members choose how and where to connect their rod to those of their fellow creators. These newfound artistic collaborators become part of the project themselves, as their personalities influence how they evolve the glistening spiderweb of glass. But not all are willing artists — at least at first.

“Kids are stoked — they don’t even know what’s happening, but they see fire and they’re ready to make something,” said Mosley. “But a lot of adults are very standoffish; you can see they’re interested but hesitant. I think they have a fear of being embarrassed, of not understanding or getting it wrong. But there is no ‘wrong’ here.”

While most people geometrically connect the rods from point to point, some people curve or bend their rods with the help of Mosley’s torch. “When people are ready, their minds kind of free up and their reservations leave, and they open themselves to the experience. That’s what I was hoping for, to go on a journey together and build this thing while not thinking about anything else.”

Learn more at Mozeart.com.

This article appeared in Make: Vol 92.