What Glass Reveals: Identity, Character, and Human Presence

Tuesday, June 16 ~ 7:00pm-8:00pm EST This virtual demonstration will explore glass as a material uniquely suited to expressing vulnerability, transformation, and the layered nature of identity. Through stained, fused, cast, and engraved glass, sometimes combined with clear reclaimed plastic, Sasha Zhitneva creates faces, figures, portraits, and hybrid forms that bring together emotion, narrative, and material tension. The demonstration looks at how glass holds contradictions that feel deeply human: it is transparent yet distancing, fragile yet enduring, sharp yet luminous. Light passing through a surface can clarify an image, but it can also distort it, the way memory and self-perception do. Using selected works as case studies, Zhitneva will discuss how different processes support different kinds of presence, from painterly imagery and line to volume, weight, and void. Topics include figure and gesture, myth and archetype, the constructed self, and the quiet drama of recognition, when viewers sense familiarity in forms that are not exactly portraits. The demonstration also touches on material choices and studio decisions, how scale, edge, and transparency shape meaning, and why hybrid combinations can intensify a sense of character rather than dilute it. Designed for artists and anyone curious about contemporary glass, this virtual demonstration offers an approachable look at how glass can move beyond decoration or function to become a tool for exploring perception, memory, and what it means to be human. Cost: $25 This demonstration will be conducted live as a Zoom Meeting. Participants will have video and audio access so they can ask questions and interact during the live demonstration. Participants will receive an email from Peters Valley at least 48 hours prior that includes a link and a password. Only registered participants will be admitted. Peters Valley records online programs and shares them with registered participants as a non-downloadable link for one month following the live event.