Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin” | University of Texas Blanton Museum of Art

Lamberts® mouth-blown art glass in a rainbow of hues creates a play of color and light in Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin” building at the University of Texas Blanton Museum of Art. The world-renowned artist designed and envisioned the structure “as a site for joy and contemplation.” According to a New York Times article titled “Ellsworth Kelly’s Temple for Light,” the project represents “the grandest exploration of pure color and form in a seven-decade career spent testing the boundaries of both.”

Kelly turned to authentic mouth-blown colored glass for its unique character and aesthetic qualities. Each two-foot-by-three-foot glass sheet is made by hand by the skilled glass masters at Glashütte Lamberts of Germany. Characteristic features of this artisanal glass include the mild waviness and occasional air bubble inherent to original antique window glass. It is pigmented through its mass through the addition of various metal oxides to the raw molten glass, creating colors that are everlasting, with unique depth and richness. The subtle striations and surface texture of the glass reflect dappled light as if from rippled water, making the colored light dance on the walls. Bendheim stocks hundreds of colors and designs of this exclusive mouth-blown glass, and offers it in safety laminated form for architectural applications.