“INTIMATE VIEWS OF NATURE” is a rare opportunity to see the extraordinary work of one of the world’s most prestigious and honored glass artists. A pioneer in the studio-glass movement, Paul Stankard’s career has spanned more than four decades.  In the catalogue of “Floating Worlds: Work by Paul Stankard,” a major retrospective at the Museum of Arts and Design, David Revere McFadden, chief curator, describes Stankard’s work:  “With amazing technical skill, the artist creates flowers and insects that rival the perfection and diversity of nature by melting and manipulating colored glass rods in the “lampworking” process, and then encasing them in glass crystal. The magnifying effect of the crystal brings out every intimate detail, from the fuzz on the inside of a petal to the fine sheen on a dragonfly's wing, demonstrating Stankard's acute powers of observation and exceptional artistic sense.”

Stankard credits Walt Whitman for being his inspiration. Many pieces can be described as a garden walk with Stankard and Whitman pointing out micro scenes that embody all of nature’s mystery on a five inch stage. In “Santa Fe Bouquet”, colors and shapes snuggle against one another, setting the stage for the entrance of the beloved ladybug. “What Whitman did with words, I seek to do with glass on a visual level. My dream is to articulate fresh information about Nature in glass. My work is driven by respect for living things, and by delicacy and detail.” “Orchid Bouquet Orb” is resplendent with details of delicate orchid flowers. Orchids are created in nature by numerous shapes, hues, and patterns to make an exotic blossom and Stankard captures it all.

In “Bachelor Button Bouquet Orb with Honeybee and Figures” Stankard appears to have included the entire plant in the bouquet but patience in the visual process will reveal the roots are interlaced human figures. Are they old and gnarled figures or youth bursting forth? Is the circling honeybee a symbol of fertilization and the cycle of life? The ambiguity allows the viewer to interact with the work on his or her own level. One fact is for sure, this piece is about the mystery of nature. As in all of Stankard’s work, the viewer is also enchanted by the meticulous technical excellence in the execution of ideas.

Before creating orbs, cubes and rectangles, Stankard was a celebrated paperweight artist. He is credited with renewing interest in paperweights, especially among young artists and collectors. Stankard's glass artistry stems from many rich traditions. The French firms Baccarat, St. Louis, and Clichy began making paperweights in the mid- 19th century, and included among their designs elegantly stylized flowers and insects that appealed to the Victorian love of botany and gardening. This interest in botany was similarly responsible for the scientific glass creations of the Blaschka father-and-son team, whose astonishingly lifelike flowers were created for botany students at Harvard in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, still prominently on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Stankard brought new concepts for paperweights to the table. “I'm always thinking about or searching for a new illusion to celebrate the mysteries of nature. I work to bring organic credibility to the glass and as I feel the results I'm not sure it translates into words. It's about feelings.”

In the 1980s, Stankard began a format he called “Botanicals” in which he departed from the semi-spherical form of traditional paperweights into shapes that allow the figures inside to be viewed from all sides, giving them a sculptural presence. His interest in the metaphysical connection between humans and nature led to the addition of “root people,” small forms based on anthropomorphic illustrations in medieval herbal books that appeared intertwined in the roots of his plants. The interior scenarios became suggestive of the life cycle of all growing things. A simple flower is symbolic of the mystery of all living things. A recent introduction is a golden orb floating toward the top as in “Cloistered Column Floral Cluster with Golden Orbs.” Gold has been used throughout the ages to symbolize power, strength, wealth, happiness, love, hope, optimism, balance and intelligence. Perhaps for Stankard, age 68, it is associated with the wisdom of aging and fruition. Our precious latter years are sometimes considered "golden years". The height of a civilization is referred to as a "golden age."