What Do You Bring to the Table?

by Huan Zhao

“My practice moves between glass and light, exploring how materials hold memory, transform under fire, and project light into space. I often use glass fusing as a way of painting with transparency, layering color so it shifts with illumination and deconstructs into multiple dimensions. Works like Remembrance recall my time by a lake in Haliburton, where light and water intertwined to create fleeting, multidimensional reflections. My ceramic cup Black Cat with Teal Eyes draws on traditional vessel forms while integrating sculptural detail, blending function with narrative. My plasma pieces extend this further, using glass as a vessel for energy itself, where light becomes both form and subject. I draw on my Chinese heritage and use color as a bridge to recall ancient times, while also engaging with contemporary questions of perception, time, and transformation. By combining techniques rooted in tradition with experiments in new media, my practice cross object and projection.”