Fragment 1828 - 1868

Curator: Here we have a curious find from the Redwood Glass Company, titled "Fragment." It's dated somewhere between 1828 and 1868. What strikes you first about it? Editor: The way the light plays within it. It looks like a block of solidified light, almost like they captured a sunbeam. A failed star, maybe? I get a surprisingly strong sense of weight from it too, despite it being glass. Curator: The material is crucial here. Glassmaking in the 19th century was rapidly industrializing. This fragment, I suspect, is waste from a larger industrial glass production process. But even in discarded materials, the inherent beauty of the medium shines. Editor: Waste? Well, now I feel a bit melancholic. That light I saw could be the trapped dreams of factory workers, transformed into accidental art. Was this piece intentionally 'found,' do you think, or purely accidental? Curator: It treads a fine line, doesn't it? By isolating this "Fragment" from its original context, presenting it as sculpture, we elevate its status. We highlight the inherent qualities of the material—the way light refracts, the textures created in its making. The "intention" becomes less important. It’s about the industrial process revealing a hidden potential. Editor: So, by embracing the unintended, do we gain deeper insights? There's an unintentional poem etched into that surface; swirling emotions created by industry. What a dichotomy to unpack within an art context. And how interesting to reconsider these unintentional actions as modernist aesthetics. Curator: Exactly. It prompts us to reconsider how labor and industrial processes might inadvertently create something beautiful. This "Fragment," born of labor, speaks to a changing relationship between industry and aesthetics. Editor: It feels complete in its incompleteness. So many complex conversations packed within this block of discarded light. And so much unintentional beauty... food for thought! Curator: Indeed, a glimpse into a time of transformation, reflected in a discarded, yet captivating, shard.