Mitchell Berg & Shannon Berg

I have been working with fused glass, lampwork glass, wire and metal since 1998.

I fuse heavy gauge wire in between sheets of glass as the basis of my work. I include metals and foils in the fusing process to create the patina of age in the glass. Every piece is a unique engineering problem that I have solved at various times using copper tube, welded brackets, springs, drilling holes and using bolts and nuts and various wire assemblages.

My inspiration comes from the things I find: machine and car parts, discarded wood, plastic, lamp parts, plumbing fittings, beads, tree seeds, nuts, bolts, toy parts, even rubber tires. The world abounds with sources for discarded and rusting junk. I wander and collect from roadside trash heaps, salvage yards and dried riverbeds. To the objects I find I add my colored, “wired” glass and lampworked glass beads and construct figurative sculptures. My figures tell stories that poke fun at culture, psychology, politics, relationships and the funny things that humans take so seriously.

The contrast between glass and the menagerie of materials I use is a unique language that is at once playful, powerful and quite funny.