Cityscape by Jay Musler

When Jay Musler made this vessel in 1981, which was inspired by an aerial view of a city at sunset, it was a sensation because it was both good art, but also because of how it was made. Today, glassblowers are capable of blowing a bowl of this size, but in the early 1980s, studio artist did not have the ability to achieve this scale. Musler took an industrial flask made of Pyrex, the borosilicate glass made by Corning and cut off the top. He then cut the rim into a “skyline,” sandblasted the surface and applied a paint onto the glass with an airbrush technique commonly used for automotive painting. It is lit from above by a single spotlight pointed down into the center of the bowl. It is on display in the Contemporary gallery at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.