Playing with broken glass

Roberta’s Art Gallery located in the University Center is currently featuring works by artist Kristin Quackenbush. The exhibit is called “Look at What Can Happen When You Play with Broken Glass.”

A reception for the exhibit was held Sept. 26 where Kristin Quackenbush was able to interact with students and community members. As attendees viewed her art on display, she had the chance to describe and answer any questions.

“Playing with broken glass just sounds wrong, but it is what I do. I just do it carefully,” Quackenbush said.

Quackenbush is an eighth grade art teacher at St. Maria Gorretti in Madison and has been working with broken glass for 14 years. She said glass has always fascinated her.

Her current exhibit features artwork that is made up of pieces of cut glass that she layers up and then sets in a kiln. The fire in the kiln then fuses all of the glass into one piece of art. The process is called glass fusing.

Quackenbush said this process can sometimes lead to unexpected results because you can never know how the glass is going to look after it melts into each other. However, she enjoys the process and the uncertainty.

Another thing she loves about using glass are the bright colors and the fact that the colors never fade.

Junior Chynarose Degner, who works at , said she really enjoys the colors of the artwork too.

“My favorite of these pieces are the season ones. I love all of the trees. Even though they all kind of look similar the colors are really nice,” Degner said.

She also mentioned that she enjoys the fact that this exhibit is different from other exhibits she has seen in the past.

“This one is very unique to what we normally have. Usually we just have a lot of paintings and photography exhibits in the gallery but this one is glass. You can just tell how long of a process it is and I enjoy how unique it is,” said Degner.

The exhibit by Quackenbush will be showcased in Roberta’s Art Gallery until Oct. 23, and it is free for all to visit.