lisa swerling: glass cathedrals

‘all the days’ by lisa swerling, as a part of her ‘glass cathedrals’ series images courtesy of lisa swerling

south africa born, california based artist lisa swerling creates ‘glass cathedrals’: these glass-fronted boxes feature scenes with hand-painted miniature figures, sourced from railway sets and architecture models.

beginning this project while studying at central saint martins in london, swerling draws from an episode in the book ‘oscar and lucinda’ by peter carey, in which a life-size glass church is seen floating down a river, while a trapped dragonfly collides against the walls trying to escape, blind to the concept of glass. ‘glass cathedrals’ thus uses scale to draw perspective on the limitations of human understanding, mirroring experiences that capture a range of universal themes in everyday life such as children, marriage and travel.

‘glass cathedrals’ will next be on display at the origin contemporary craft fair in london this september. see designboom’s coverage of the show here.

‘all the days’ (detail)

‘unplugged’

‘unplugged’ detail

‘evergreen’

‘evergreen’ detail

‘the night job’

‘the night job’ (detail)

‘a woman’s work’

‘a woman’s work’ detail