Artist Paul Stankard has spent more than 50 years capturing life inside glass. At least, that’s how it appears when viewing his floral arrangements trapped inside crystal-clear spheres and cubes.
Stankard began his glassblowing career making scientific instruments for various chemical laboratories after studying the craft at Salem Vocational Technical Institute. Dissatisfied with making lab equipment, he began searching for a more creative avenue to exercise his trade.
He started making glass paperweights in his garage while supporting his family by creating glass flasks and graduated cylinders. It wasn’t until he displayed his work at a craft fair on the Atlantic City boardwalk that his glass paperweights were recognized for their brilliance: Renowned art dealer Reese Palley saw the intricate, lifelike flora arrangements trapped in glass and was impressed enough to back Stankard financially so he could devote his full attention to his art.
The truly amazing part of Stankard’s work is his sculpture work that mimics nature so closely that the pieces appear to actually contain living flowers, insects and berries. His attention to detail is what initially separated Stankard from other similar artists and continues to inspire awe in viewers of his work. Closer inspection of his glass art reveals even more details amid whimsical and metamorphic motifs, including hidden masks and words intertwined in the roots of the plants.
Stankard’s work has been shown at some of the largest museums in the country, including the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery and New York’s Museum of Art and Design, which did a large retrospective of his work that toured the country in 2004. Since 1996 alone, Stankard has had more than 35 showings of his glass art.
A show of Stankard’s work is currently on display at the Akron Art Museum, thanks to a gift from Mike and Annie Belkin of Northeast Ohio. The gift, which is the world’s largest collection of Stankard’s work, is now part of the permanent collection of the museum. The Mike and Annie Belkin Collection of Stankard Glass exhibition will run at the museum until January 1.
Photo: Paul Stankard, Brown-eyed Susan bouquet cube with honey bee, 1997, glass, 2 ½ in. x 2 3/8 in. x 2 3/8 in., Collection of the Akron Art Museum, Gift of Annie and Mike Belkin
