A master work completed during the depths of the pandemic, the piece consists of a large, oval table with short legs representing the long history of life on our planet. The table’s surface hosts a lush landscape of clear glass representations of prehistoric plants which sprout from massive clay “rocks.” Plants that went extinct millennia ago—barinophyton and sphenophyllales—join cycads and ferns, prehistoric plants that persist today. They reach toward the sky and arch across the table’s surface like the organized chaos of the modern city or a coral reef animated by ocean waves. In other words, they course with the energy of life, with the creativity and ingenuity that lends itself to adaptation in the face of adversities.

Below the table, by contrast, hang vessels of various sizes and shapes in neatly ordered arrangements. These pitchers and vases, goblets, jugs and carafes are stand-ins for the humans that made and use them. Dwarfed by the abundant vegetation above them and blown in thin and mostly unadorned clear glass, the vessels appear frail and noticeably empty, with none of the dynamism above. Left unstated and unanswered are questions about human’s ability to adapt to the forces changing our climate today. Will we go extinct like the sphenophyllales or will we adapt and persist like the ferns?

A Wisconsin based artist and educator, Beth Lipman has investigated the transience in human life for over twenty years. Though her work is held in depth by The Corning Museum of Glass, which was an early supporter of her work, I was thrilled to be able to add this major work to the Museum’s collection during my tenure.