(North Carolina, born 1955)

Neptune's Top #2, shaped spherical form, having internal millefiori decoration in blue, green, white, and red, cased in faceted glass, circular foot, etched signature "Gary Beecham" to base, titled, and dated "1988", 7 x 6 in.

Note: Much of Gary's work has been heavily influenced by ancient glass, both in form and in technique. The ancients treated glass as a plastic gem material, a substance that could be colored, stretched, melted and carved by the maker. Gary has experimented with countless ways of manipulating glass involving blowing, fusing and cutting. Over his thirty-four year career, he has become well known for heavy, thick walled vessels. For the imagery in these pieces, he first makes up a wide palette of colored overlay rods. Some pieces contain textile patterns that are then introduced into the crystal glass piece as it is being blown, creating the illusion of glass "fabric" floating in the bowl of the vessel, often with a second or third pattern appearing on one of the vessel's reflecting surfaces. Others, incorporating complex millefiori, are formed into mosaics of brilliant color. The imagery of these pieces has been suggested by influences as divergent as astronomical forms, undersea creatures and figures from a Persian rug.

Provenance: Holstein Galleries, 1980s; Private Collection, New York

minor scratching, primarily to base, paper label to base, glued accession number to base