Fluent Steps at the Museum of Glass

A new permanent installation will be going into the main reflecting pool outside the Museum of Glass this fall called Fluent Steps. What’s especially cool is that the sculptor Martin Blank will be creating the elements for the sculpture in the Museum of Glass Hot Shop over the next few months.

Fluent Steps will span the entire length of the 210-foot-long reflecting pool and will rise from water level to fifteen feet in height. It will consist of individual islands of glass sculpture that will interact with one another to portray Blank’s interpretation of water in its various forms. Transition Between Planes is an expansive 60-foot swell that will bisect the open body of the pool, forming a uniquely sculpted space between the surface of the water and the fluid glass components suspended above it. Transitions will taper into Wisps, a field of hundreds of small glass forms breaching the surface like rising mist. An open plane of resting water will separate Transitions from The Cascades, a massive arch of glass that will envelope the viewer in the mist and surge of falling water. Lastly, Echo, a vibrant and colorful grouping, will languidly flow across the surface of the pool, creating an intimate dance of color, texture and reflective light.

Blank and his glass sculpting team will fabricate the elements for Fluent Steps in the Museum Hot Shop, providing Museum visitors ample opportunity to see the large-scale installation take shape. If you can’t make it down there during one of the dates when he’ll be working, you can watch via a live streaming video feed on the museum’s website.

“Fluent Steps” will become part of the museum’s growing permanent collection.

More information, including a work schedule for Blank and his team, at the MuseumofGlass.org