Kate Clements explores the nature of fragility by combining painted panels with delicate planes of kiln-fired glass. She told Colossal that glass is “a material defined by its ability to hold tension.” “It can break, shatter or move at any moment. This awareness of impermanence has long been the undertone of my entire work: a nervous buzz lurking beneath the surface.”
Clements uses a granular substance called frit, which he forms into shapes such as leaves, insects, and birds, and places them directly on the kiln shelves. After firing, these colorful drawings fuse into extremely thin panels, which she then applies to painted panels or hangs in installations. She often combines patterns reminiscent of wallpaper with those that suggest architectural structures or niches, playing with the relationship between rigidity and fluidity, and the artificial and organic.
“Through marking and proportion, the materials almost become an extension of my hands and body,” Clements said, adding that the process was quite meditative. “It’s a coexistence of precision and intuition—knowing how to shape the material and when to let the glass move its way in the kiln.”
The versatility of the medium, balanced by its inherent mutability, continues to fascinate Clements – particularly the tension between control and risk. As with any material fired in a kiln, it has the potential to react in surprising ways or change differently than expected. Once assembled into large-scale works through a process the artist likens to collage, the sheets appear delicate, like sugar sculptures that seem to crumble or crack at the slightest touch.
“The earlier works tended toward this unease,” Clements said. “I am drawn to the way glass triggers anxiety – the unsettling power of beauty that can be reversed at any moment. This instability feels like a mirror to the world around us: seductive, dangerous and unpredictable.” Recent works build on this sensibility while emphasizing the ethereal qualities of the translucent medium, with delicate panels suspended from the ceiling to create stronger architectural forms.
Clements’ sculpture, titled “Acanthus,” which evokes the glittering Arc de Triomphe, is on display in a group show at the Nelson-Atkins Museum personal best Deadline is August 9, 2026. New works are also in progress Nocturnea solo exhibition at the Kansas City Community College Art Museum, runs through November 14. Learn more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
