April Surgent

April Surgent (American, b. 1982) works with an ancient technique that few contemporary glassmakers choose to attempt. Cameo engraving entails precise and painstaking work to carve through layers of various colors of glass to create unique low relief images. While cameo engraving is best known for its use by gem cutters with differed colored stones or shells, it is equally as dynamic when implemented on layers of subtly colored glass. It is a slow process that requires great skill and meticulous attention to detail. As a

young artist Surgent first encountered engraving under the tutelage of the Czech master engraver Jiří Harcuba, (Czech, 1928 – 2013) which led to her focus on the use of cameo engraving as way to depict landscapes and environments in glass.

While nature is her source of inspiration, Surgent draws on her experiences with several science-funded research grants to inform how she chooses to represent the natural environment. Each research trip, from areas as diverse as Antarctica to the Northwestern

Hawaiian Islands, has yielded a range of breathtaking imagery that later, in her studio, is recorded in glass. There is a great emphasis on using her engravings to document the present moment as the world is in the midst of a vastly accelerated loss of natural habitats and environmental impacts due to climate change. The depictions stand as a testament to the significant change that has already occurred, marking where the land, the sea, and animals are today; yet on this trajectory, the imaged landscape will no longer exist in just a few decades.