Sweet Vessels

Granulated sugar, isomalt, food coloring W5840 x D235 xH940mm Sweet Vessels is an ongoing investigation of the material and aesthetic properties of sugar glass, commonly known as hard candy. The work consists of a series involves of installations of goblets cast out of sugar glass. When the goblets are freshly produced, they look and feel like real glass. However, over time the goblets transform, changing in shape, color, and size as they melt and recrystallize in response to changing environmental conditions. The transformation of the sugar glass dramatizes the properties of glass itself as an amorphous solid. The installation educates the audience in the science of amorphous solids and challenges their conceptions of time, permanence, and materiality as what initially appears solid and durable is revealed to be fluid and in constant metamorphosis.