enad.tsinghua.edu.cn , February 7, 2021
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On the afternoon of December 11, two academic activities were held: keynote speeches and youth forum. Jessica Jane Julius, President of the Glass Art Society, first delivered an online keynote speech, in which she pointed out: Our love and curiosity for glass unite us here. We are in the era of glass, as we are surrounded by it. Glass appears in our daily life as something we are used to; but it is still being ignored or unnoticed. Jessica also noted that if there was no glass, we couldn't store vaccines to fight against the pandemic.
In the speech, Jessica introduced the development and discipline characteristics of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture where she teaches, as well as the artistic ecology of Philadelphia. As the President of the Glass Art Association, Jessica also presented the achievements of the Association as an international organization of glass art, and many preparations for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Pilchuck Glass School. Next, she shared her personal experience of artistic creation and noted that she likes to use visual symbols similar to geometric figures and some basic graphic languages, such as points, lines, arcs and simple figures. As they symbolize data and information, the use of them is non-utilitarian. This allows Jessica's works to fall into many different categories, and makes the process of creation and the choice of materials full of intersection, instead of using glass only. The main body of her work You Can Not Be Manufactured is made by the lampwork process, and is put in a solution that can separate crystals out. Like snowflakes, the shapes of these crystals can never be repeated, each of them being unique. This is one way to explore the identity and experience as an artist and the uniqueness of being an artist.