2007年VOA标准英语-Bringing Beauty and Wonderment of Glass in the

By June Soh
Washington
04 May 2007
 

Artists use a variety of materials for their creations -- paint on canvas, pencil on paper, metal or stone sculpted¹ into life-like form. Still others create works totally unique from glass. VOA's June Soh met one such artist in Washington D.C. Amy Katz narrates² the story.

Graham Caldwell is a sculptor³ who works with glass at his workshop in the Washington D.C. suburbs. "I have always loved water.  It (glass) is kind of closest material that can get to water.  The process of making glass is in itself fascinating just because of how glass behaves as a material.  It moves kind of slowly.   It gives off light.  It is beautiful to look at while you are making it."

One look, during his college days, into Urban Glass, a well-known glass-blowing studio in Brooklyn, New York led Caldwell to where he is today at age 33.  After a few hobbyist classes there, he enrolled⁴ at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned a degree in studio art with a specialty⁵ in glass.

"It is a strange material.  And I think that is interesting and people like that.  You can look at it and see through it at the same time.  In most materials you can only look at it."

As strange as the material is, he admits, glass is not an easy medium to work with.  

One of Graham's finished glass sculptures

"Oh there are so many challenges.  Its fragility, it is a huge challenge. The fact that so difficult to work with.  It can break at any stage of the process.  While you are making it, it can break.  After you made it, it can break. During the transportation it can break.  It is limited in scale by different factors like size of the chambers⁶ that you make it in."

Tossing around glass at 1,100 degrees Celsius⁷ in a workshop where the temperature gets as hot as 49 degrees Celsius, Coldwell says he has learned to tolerate burns.

"I get burned all the time.  I got burns last week.  The nice thing is most of the burns are superficial. They hurt momentarily but they kind of stop again."

Caldwell acknowledges that most people look at glass as a medium of crafts. But he makes a clear distinction between crafts and art. "To me the distinction between craft and art has to do with what is known and what is unknown.  Craft is the world of sort of known, functional⁸, historical. The world of art and the world of sculpture has to do with the unknown. That is why I am fascinated with it because what is unknown is far more compelling than what is known."

Each of Caldwell's works displayed at his recent exhibition at the G Fine Art Gallery in Washington D.C. is a cluster of many separate but similar parts. The individual pieces are not what is special. Caldwell says what matters is the overall effect of the installation; how the parts reflect off each other, and mirror the space and the viewer looking at them.

"I make parts. They don't make sense until they are together. They don't really come alive until you see how they are connected and created sculpture. The hardest part is coming up with an idea and the idea is good enough to survive."

Caldwell says he has tried other materials, but he always returns to glass.  He says his main interest is in bringing the well-made object into the world of sculpture and conveying a sense of wonder and beauty through glass, like having an amusement park for the eyes.

1 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。

2 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

3 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

4 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

6 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

7 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

8 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。