About Cynthia Morgan

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Cynthia Morgan is a sculptor who specializes in testing the limits of an old glassmaking technique, pate de verre. Developed in France during the Art Nouveau period, pate de verre mimics an even older glassmaking technique, ancient Egyptian faience.

Her sculptures use light, nature and the human form to tell many stories. Her current work consists of three series:
• Vignettes: Portraits done from life, capturing the essence of human emotion.
• Emergents: A fantasy exploration; what would happen if plants were given aspects of humanity?
• Emotives: Cast crystal abstractions of pure human emotion and responsiveness.

Ms. Morgan first encountered pate de verre about 15 years ago. She’s studied the techniques with artists from France, Japan and the United States to develop her own unique sculptural processes.

They bear many similarities to the lost wax method of casting in bronze: Ms. Morgan sculpts a clay model and uses it to create a silicone mold. She uses that mold to reproduce the original model in foundry wax, then further refines the wax model and “invests” it in a special refractory plaster. She melts the wax out of the mold, saturates the mold with water, and painstakingly packs layer after layer of colored glass powders into the mold.

The packing process can take up to 12 hours; packed molds are fired for up to three weeks in a specially designed kiln. Once cooled, the plaster is removed; Ms. Morgan may choose to color- or shape-correct the work, add additional elements and fire the piece a second and even a third time. When the last firing is finished, the glasswork is ground and polished. A single work can take up to three months to complete.

Ms. Morgan’s expertise allows her to create large, precisely shaded figurative sculpture with the classic pate de verre translucency. Her work has been exhibited in museums, magazines and books; it is held in private and public collections around the world.

Ms. Morgan has studied with noted glass artists and sculptors from around the world, including Philippe Faraut, Alicia Lomne, Marie Odile Savigny, Patty Gray, Mel and Les Rowe, Doug Randall and Linda Ethier. She is an expert on the history of pate de verre technique and an author and lecturer on studio glass technique.