Amber Cowan ’04

Looking at one of Amber Cowan’s glass sculptures is like stepping into another dimension.

Her work sets a story in motion. It’s as if the sculpture itself is swimming, fluttering, dripping, ready to take off and fly away. Each piece is its own world, a story with a thousand parts. The amount of time, skill and vision it takes to create a single sculpture is astounding.

How does she do it? She starts by heating up the kiln.

Cowan worked hard to design this life for herself. She built her career like she does her art – one piece at a time.

“I always believed in myself and knew I could make it work,” Cowan said. “A lot of it is just having the grit to pursue what you love. It’s like rolling the dice on yourself constantly. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it.”

Cowan has come a long way since she graduated from SU’s hot glass program in 2004. Her work can be found in galleries and museums across the country, and she has been featured in The New York Times.

Looking at her sculptures, it seems like she works magic, creating something out of nothing. But her primary material is recycled vintage glass, made of dead stock colors from defunct companies – parts of history that may otherwise lay in waste. Part of her work is searching for the right components, touring old glass factories for scraps or finding them in thrift stores across the country. Sometimes, people will send her family heirlooms, which allows her to preserve a part of their family history in her work.

“I’ll do a lot of research on the history of those objects and the story behind them,” Cowan said. “If I put one of these pieces into my sculptures, that story continues to be told.”

She likes to call her medium “sought objects,” an active hunt for pieces she can mold into her narrative. In her pursuit of these fragments of a story, she is reclaiming something lost.

One of her pieces includes a broken blue candy dish, sent to her by a woman whose great-great-grandfather won it at a state fair in 1834. He gave the dish to his wife, and their history continued to be passed down through generations. Now, it lives on in one of Cowan’s pieces, on display in Imagine Museum in Florida.

A lot of it is just having the grit
to pursue what you love.

Amber Cowan

“The journey has really been amazing,” Cowan said. “I think every day how lucky I am.”

Cowan has returned to SU campus to give an artist talk to current students. She is an example that whatever their dreams are, they can make it happen.

“The glass program is why I went to SU,” Cowan said. “I have seen a lot of my colleagues I graduated with go on to pursue careers and start their own studios. If you get out there, meet a lot of people and reach for the opportunities around you, it will broaden your worldview.”