Jennifer Bueno uses glass and light to explore fragile ecosystems
It began with a small, quiet moment in a salt marsh. Penland artist Jennifer Bueno recalls picking up a blue crab and noticing how, even as disease had taken hold, it “still radiated a unique beauty.” That observation lingered, stirring memories of catching crabs at night with a flashlight, when a sudden beam of light would cause the crustacean to freeze in place. “My thoughts then drifted to the impact of artificial lighting on crab populations as a whole,” she says. Those reflections ultimately found their way into “Lantern,” a large-scale work made from hot-sculpted glass, wood, watercolor, oils, and LED light. Layered forms move across its surface like shifting currents and shells, while light itself becomes an active presence rather than a neutral backdrop. For Bueno, glass is essential to holding that tension. “The way glass captures light and maintains a visually fluid quality makes it the perfect medium for expressing my fleeting emotional connections with the world,” she says. “These ineffable feelings seem to create a space where emotional responses become tangible.” Featured in Ascension at Tryon Arts & Crafts School, “Lantern” asks viewers to slow down and spend time with what they see. Bueno hopes the experience leaves them with “a sense of wonder about the intimate yet expansive nature of our environment.”
Ascension: January 13-February 15, 2026; Closing Reception & Artist Panel: Friday, February 13, 5:30-7pm
Tryon Arts & Crafts School / 373 Harmon Field Road, Tryon / tryonartsandcrafts.org