Deep-Sea Dive

Photograph by Eric Kulin

At age 13, Aaron Slater began melting beer bottles with his father’s plumbing torch in an attempt to re-create the glass art he’d seen on a PBS special. Twenty-six years later, the Lowell-based artist is a master of flameworking, a centuries-old glass-forming process that he uses to render the ocean’s colors and forms into palm-size art. Working with torches large and small, Slater creates individual details, then melds them together into a tiny spherical vignette. While Slater’s marble-like creations may seem delicate, he insists that they are designed to be touched. “The marble invites you to pick it up,” he says. “[Its] lens creates optical illusions hidden in the depths, and you have to turn it to find them.” 

Pieces start at $40, Aaron slater Glass, 122 Western Ave., Ste. 216, Lowell, 603-380-3004, aaronslaterglass.com.