Light Fantastic

“Glass is for me the perfect medium because it has it all — dimension, clarity, color, opacity, reflectivity and environmental presence,” says Toland Sand, international glass artist with a studio in Sanbornton for the past 30 years.

Sand has worked with glass since 1977, starting with stained glass, moving on to blown glass, and since 1985, constructing cold glass sculptures.

The objects are created with a lamination process. Dichroic glass layers, which add color, are laminated to optically pure glass. It is the architectural construction, working with the refractive quality of glass, that creates a mesmerizing netherworld of color and form. To peer inside is to visit another world. Look from another angle and the landscape has changed.

It is this pure aesthetic that has driven Sand to keep exploring.

“I have no message or outrage to convey … I don’t try to analyze it. I believe in the sensibilities of the individual. I create what I enjoy, and enjoy what I create.”

He is a self-taught artist with a degree in philosophy. During his high school years he was raised in Greece while his father was employed by the CIA. Growing up with the ruins of an ancient civilization gave him pause to consider creating work in a timeless medium. His glass will endure, too.

Sand maintains a studio in Carmel, Calif., where he was born. The space is a legacy passed to him from his grandfather and father.

— Susan Laughlin