We invite you to the personal exhibition “Glass Transformation” by Daiva Kupstienė, a third-year student of the Glass Object Creation and Restoration specialization within the Object Art study program at the Academy of Arts, Faculty of Arts and Education of Kauno Kolegija, currently on display on the second floor of the library.
Annotation
_________The personal exhibition “Glass Transformation” by Daiva Kupstienė, a third-year student in the Glass Object Creation and Restoration specialization of the Object Art study programme at the Academy of Arts, Faculty of Arts and Education, Kauno Kolegija, introduces viewers to the challenges young artists face when giving meaning to and realizing their creative ideas through the use of secondary raw materials. The exhibition demonstrates how discarded glass containers can be granted a new life in artistic glass objects: miniatures, as well as compositions of decorative illuminated objects for interior and exterior spaces.
_________“Glass Transformation” is the seventh personal exhibition by D. Kupstienė, in which the artist creatively explores the potential of used glass packaging as a material for the realization of artistic concepts. The author raises the question of whether artists should remind society about the problem of pollution—an issue we are aware of but discuss too little. At the same time, the artist encourages reflection on the importance of proper waste sorting.
_________The idea for the exhibition was inspired by D. Kupstienė’s research project “Replicating Sustainability: From Discarded Containers to Object Art for Tourism Centres – An Exhibition Lighting Object, Analysing the Differences and Similarities of Glass in the Process of Execution”, conducted within a student research initiative supported by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMT), which promotes the implementation of ideas through scientific and artistic activities (see the electronic publication “Student Scientific Research 2024/2025”, Conference Abstracts, ISSN 2669-2074, Research Council of Lithuania, 2025: https://lmt.lrv.lt/public/canonical/1747825911/4707/Leidinys.pdf).
_________Together with Sigita Grabliauskaitė, lecturer at the Academy of Arts and glass artist, the student spent more than half a year experimenting in the Glass Studio of the Object Art study programme. These experiments encouraged broader creative exploration, developing ideas for artistic objects and possibilities for their realization in the personal exhibition “Glass Transformation”, presented at the The Library and Centre of Scientific Communication (Pramonės Ave. 22A, Kaunas).
_________In response to the global relevance of sustainability and the underutilization of discarded glass packaging in creative object-based glass art processes, the exhibition presents distinctive functional objects. These works were developed through an analysis of the specifics of functional glassware production and by transferring its principles to the creation of original lighting objects, integrating the reuse of discarded glass containers. The author’s lighting objects may be adapted for interiors of cafés and tourism centres or used as unique gifts and souvenirs for active travellers visiting Lithuanian rural tourism sites and locations where surplus discarded glass packaging is found.
Sigita Grabliauskaitė
Lecturer at the Academy of Arts, Faculty of Arts and Education, Kauno Kolegija, member of the LAA, glass artist