Artwork Details
- Title
- Lungs
- Artist
- Date
- 2020
- Location
- Dimensions
- 12 3⁄4 × 9 1⁄2 × 3 3⁄8 in. (32.4 × 24.1 × 8.6 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2020, Kit Paulson
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- glass
- Object Number
- 2021.22
Artwork Description
Kit Paulson shapes thin strands of heat-resistant glass with a torch to create intricate sculptures. Lungs draws comparison to the structuring of veins and lacework. The artist transformed the alveoli, the tiny air sacs on the lungs, into flowers. Paulson finished this work just weeks before the pandemic of COVID-19, a disease that causes numerous complications in the lungs.
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022
Verbal Description
This delicate glass sculpture forms the shape of the human respiratory system. The lungs are a foot tall and nine inches wide with a depth of approximately four inches. The windpipe, which extends upward from the center of the sculpture, is a fleshy pink tube with a ribbed texture. At center, the windpipe splits into two thinner bronchial tubes that mirror each other, forming a wide wishbone shape. From each of these smaller tubes sprout numerous thin, colorless glass branches, which in turn sprout others. This creates a radiating network of stems and tiny buds that mimics the overall shape of a pair of lungs. Enclosed within this network are bouquets of tiny delicate glass flowers that blossom from the bronchial tubes like alveoli. The foundational bright pink windpipe and bronchial tubes stand out through the maze of clear glass.
Exhibitions
