Artist Statement

This collaborative project explores the relevance of the "Glass Ceiling" in today’s workplace. As a metaphor for the invisible biases that keep women from moving up to higher positions within their chosen fields, is the glass ceiling still a useful tool to understanding an uneven playing field? Has its meaning evolved over time to include the loss of fundamental rights? What will it take to break the glass ceiling, and will we know when that happens? These questions guided our project as our six collaborators examined this decades old metaphor. While many women have shattered it in various fields, it remains a powerful barrier for others. Some see it as irrelevant today, while others feel its impact deeply. The workplace and the role of women in it have changed, prompting us to take a closer look. 

A Different Kind of Collaboration  

The project was guided by a unique collaborative structure, focused on exchanging ideas and working with shared materials (broken glass), rather than on a shared artwork. Collaborators included Amy Vidra, Erin Kaczkowski, Heather Hogan, Ianna Nova Frisby, Muzi Li Rowe, and myself.

All About The Process 

• I met each of the other collaborators individually to discuss their views on the “glass ceiling.” We explored what it meant to them, its relevance today, and its evolution since 1978, when it first symbolized gender biases preventing women from advancing to top positions.

• Based on these conversations, I crafted a glass panel for each collaborator, fusing various glasses in a kiln to represent their perceptions of the ceiling and her aesthetic interpretation. 

• Upon completion of the panels, the artists gathered as a group, where they witnessed each other break their panels, symbolically shattering their personal glass ceilings.

• Each collaborator and I, working as a pair, divided the broken glass from each panel, and returned to our studios to create work reflective of our experiences. The results are pairs of “sister” pieces, made from the shared glass. 

Come see the finished work, which is currently on view at Axis Gallery in Sacramento. It will be up throughout the month of March, 2025. (Axis is located at 625 S Street, Sacramento.)