Sculpture
Marlene Rose
New to Spring 2025!
Clearwater, FL
Booth 338
Featured Artist
ABOUT THE ARTIST…
Marlene Rose is an internationally known award-winning sculptor who produces stunningly beautiful works of art in her chosen medium, sand-cast glass.
Seen in museums and galleries across the US and Europe, her works are sought by glass connoisseurs, fine art collectors and Hollywood A-list celebrities.
Each piece is hand cast from molten glass into an unique modern work of art that resonates with references and allusions to ancient cultures and civilizations.
ABOUT THE PROCESS...
While the process Rose uses is relatively new, having been developed in the mid-80s, it is based on the ancient tradition of bronze casting. Rose pours liquid molten glass into carefully prepared sand molds, then cools it for six days or more in a specially controlled oven before cracking open the mold to see what is revealed.
There is a rawness and immediacy to working the sand of the mold, and the thrill and the danger of pouring this magical lava, thousands of degrees hot. There is the patient gestation of the work in the cooling oven.
Then at last there is the joy of meeting the product of sand, glass, fire and thought, as the piece is finally bought out into the light.
Marlene Rose quite simply breathes life and beauty to whatever she makes.
Marlene Rose is an award-winning glass sculptor, internationally known in museums as well as top art and glass galleries. Her works are collected by the glass cognoscenti, by fine-art collectors and Hollywood A-list celebrities.
She writes this about her work....
"What evocative imagery calls to me from the past and the primitive! I look to these places and peoples of my real and imaginary forebears for the root-inspiration of much of my work. I find myself tugging at the common threads of human imagery, woven through cultures and time, weaving and recomposing their nuances, making them in new ways that communicate the immortal vibrancy of the human spirit.
"Part of every piece refers to a distant, only partly understood system of symbols that derive their power and strength from the common core we share with our ancestors. I feel myself riding on this ancient energy, and in the glass I make I see a strong presence that reaches out through time, linking the shards of what I have seen, linking these unnamed emotions, these visions, and these part-remembered memories of the past, linking them to a future I had half-forgotten.
"These glimpses of something beyond this present moment become my visions, and they are frozen forever in the icy-hot stillness of the glass."
Marlene Rose simply breathes life and beauty into whatever she makes.
MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS:
Each piece is a one-of-a-kind, hand cast glass sculpture made from 2000 degree molten glass using a stamp and pour method. Sandcasting glass is based on the thousands-year-old tradition of bronze casting, adapted only recently for glass.
First, a carving is made of the shape to be poured. This form is then pressed into the sand and a thin layer of colored powdered glass is laid down to color the surface of the casting. Then 2000 degree liquid molten glass is poured into the mold. Once in the mold, hot torches are used on the exposed surface of the glass to prevent it cooling too quickly. When the glass reaches about 900 degrees, the sand is cut away. The glass is then hand-carried to a special cooling oven where it is slowly brought to room temperature over a week’s time. Only then is there a glimpse the final product. After this, a steel frame is welded together to complete the sculpture.