Cast Glass Sweeties

Debra Ruzinsky

Sugar Bomb #3; Cast glass, 2011

Debra Ruzinsky
Bombshell, 2011

Debra Ruzinsky's cast glass artwork was recently praised by the Washington Post Art Critic Michael O'Sullivan in a review of glass sculpture that was on exhibit at Long View Gallery. In the review, Michael wrote: "My guilty pleasure sits all the way in the back of the 5,000-square-foot gallery... There you'll find two small sculptural works by artist Deborah Ruzinsky, mounted on pedestals in front of large glass doors that, on sunny days, suffuse the room with light. The works' titles, "Sugar Bomb #2" and "Sugar Bomb #3," are apt. Cast in green and orange glass using Jell-O molds and artillery shell casings, they're pure, explosive eye candy.

Staring at it, I feel like a monkey in front of a ball of shiny, shiny tin foil. Isn't contemporary art supposed to be ugly -- or at least less superficial?...

On the one hand, glass is pretty. It's hard not to like the way it looks: the luminous color, the way it plays with light. On the other hand, maybe glass is only pretty. How do we know that the beauty is also capable of brains? The rest of the show is proof that it is."

Debra was in the glass school this weekend coldworking her pieces of cast glass sculpture for a show at Vermont's Brattleboro Art Museum this July 15-Oct 23. The group show "Glass in All Senses" promises to be an amazing collection of pieces by diverse artists. Debra's work is from her sculpture series "Sweet Escape". The work will feature cast glass sweets and rockets.

Debra checks her cast glass wafer ramp for smoothness.

Check back later for links to the Brattleboro Museum show.