Emit/Absorb

Karen Browning & Jon Lewis
Instead of trying to merge our individual practices and visions into a singular view, our piece for Collaborations has evolved into dramatically opposing but also complimentary glassworks.

Karen has cast a hemispheric form using a uranium glass which has been in her possession for many years waiting for this opportunity. The uranium in the composition of the glass gives a distinct acid green colouration which also glows under ultraviolet light. Uranium haunts our twentieth century history.

Jon has cast a female mould form of a 1950s television cathode ray tube using melted TV screens, this glass has a quantity of barium and strontium in its composition. In opposition to Karen’s glass, this glass is designed to shield and absorb the gamma radiation emitted from older CRT televisions. Barium is also used to shield radiation in X-rays for medical imaging.

These opposing creatures complement each other in their close partnership.

Uranium, barium and strontium historically have been hugely important in discoveries of medicine, physics, and energy. Pertinently, especially in present-day, we cannot neglect the destructive power that these heavy metal elements can also unleash.

Emit – Kiln cast and polished uranium glass.

Absorb – Cast recycled TV screen glass, composed on quantities of barium and strontium

Emit : cast uranium glass, 40 x 40 x 20 cm, Absorb: cast recycled TV glass, 40 x 40 x 20 cm