New Work | Zoe Kowalchuk

There’s a certain kind of work that stops you for a moment. Not with noise or scale, but with light. Zoe Kowalchuk’s glass does that. Her pieces glow from within, shifting as you move around them, catching shadows one minute and scattering color the next. It’s a reminder of how alive glass can feel in the hands of someone who understands it.

Zoe has been shaping glass since the 1980s, learning from artists who helped define the medium. Her training spans Milo Townsend, Dan Fenton, Ed Schmidt, Michael Dupille, and most recently a master class with Narcissus Quagliata. That range shows up in her work. There’s control, but there’s also a willingness to let the material take over when it chooses.

Colorado has played a part in her evolution. The clear light, long horizons, and saturated mountain colors shape the way she approaches each piece. She talks about glass as something that can be hard or soft, fragile or strong, cold, warm, or hot. She works in all of those states. Panels, sculptural forms, illuminated landscapes, vessels with shifting surface patterns. Each one is an answer to her ongoing question: “What can I do next?”

Her statement says it best:“I love glass. It’s hard and soft, fragile and strong. It can be worked cold, warm, or hot. It’s clear, full of color, able to transmit and reflect light. What a wonderful medium. It gives me almost unlimited possibilities: sometimes a flat panel, sometimes a sculpture, and sometimes something unexpected, because with glass I’m not always in charge. This medium lets me express the joy of light and color, and I hope it lifts the viewer, even for a moment.”

Zoe’s work returns to Osmosis Gallery with a mix of illuminated panels and smaller blown-glass forms. These pieces show the full range of what she does: bold color, layered texture, and that unmistakable relationship between light and glass that defines her style.

If you’re curious about contemporary glass, or if you just want to see something that feels alive in the room, this is a good moment to stop by.