Arts Scene: Carol Cohen
Goshen is home to a number of talented and accomplished artists and artisans, and Carol Cohen of CCGlassgoods is one of them. A resident of Goshen since 2016, Carol is a skilled glass artist who produces unique and stunning pieces. Largely self-taught, and with guidance from studio instructors, she can often be found in her Goshen home studio or the one in New York where it all started, trying out new techniques and producing exciting pieces.
Forever an “artsy” person, Carol is a lifelong learner who has been creating art her entire adult life. Decoupage pieces, decorating objects by gluing colored paper cutouts onto them in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf, and other decorative elements, were her first commercial venture. But it was when she visited a craft show, and met a woman who worked with mosaics, that she was inspired to pursue learning about glass. This strong interest in understanding how to work with glass became a “thing” for her over eight years ago. Next step: classes in mosaics, and before she knew it, she was hooked and CCGlassgoods was born!
Years and lots of mosaics later, Carol decided to broaden her skills and apply them in new ways. That’s when her fascination with fused glass began. Glass fusing is the joining together of pieces of glass at high temperature. She’s been expanding her knowledge of this medium in order to create more challenging and sophisticated pieces. Her keen eye helps her absorb lots of influences from the environment and this informs her designs and use of color.
Carol explained that fused glass requires lengthy and exacting work that’s essential to produce high-quality works of art. Each time she creates a piece, she learns something new about the properties of glass. Her imaginative use of color and her natural and creative “eye,” result in vibrant, intricate and unique designs. She relishes the creative process that takes her through envisioning, designing, and fabricating her pieces, which include functional and decorative bowls, plates, platters and other serving pieces, vases, and objects such as wall hangings and tabletop pieces. While she still works in mosaics, and often incorporates them into her designs, her current focus is on fused glass. There is no mass production here; each piece receives individual attention from start to finish. And since the medium is glass, you can imagine that along the way, Carol has broken a fair number of pieces, but she soldiers on!
Just recently, she challenged herself further and began to explore new methods in fused glass design and production, utilizing different forms of glass material. In her hands, mixed sizes of spaghetti-like rods of multicolored glass turn into objects with striking and unusual patterns that are evocative of textile weavings. Pleasing to the eye? Yes! But these pieces beg to be touched to experience their texture!
Carol’s latest passion lies in creating glass vases, which has opened a whole new form of artistic expression for her. A complicated, demanding and multi-step process, her vases contain flowing bands of brilliant color and provide a striking focal point for flower arrangements. The production of these one-of-a-kind handmade vases requires Carol’s nearly-constant vigilance. Along the way, very frequent checks and adjustments are necessary to get things just right. And once the final shape she is looking for is achieved, there are multiple stages of polishing and other processes to add and adjust texture to individual pieces. Patience is a necessity when producing this type of art, and Carol has it in abundance!
This exceptionally talented and dedicated artisan, a prolific producer of striking and vibrant glass objects, continually hones her craft and derives much joy from her work. Carol is very happy to have joined the ranks of local artists who call Goshen home.
