Glass Art Association of Canada

Northern Lights 2025

Northern Lights - Canadian Glass Grad Exhibition

Welcome to GAAC's Canadian Glass Graduate exhibition, an annual exhibition showcasing the work of our major glass institutions across Canada, an invaluable part of our Canadian Glass community.

We invited students from Fleming Haliburton School of Art + Design, Haliburton, Ontario; Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario; Espace Verre, Montreal, Quebec; and AuArts, Calgary, Alberta.

The graduates share images from their newly produced artist portfolios. The students' work, naturally, is as diverse as the students. Please enjoy their take on glasswork, ranging from sculptural furnishings, jewellery, and conceptual and technical explorations, in blown, cast, fused, flameworked, coldworked, and always inspiring experimental work.

Please join us, the GAAC board, in celebrating the graduating glass students of 2025!! As a graduation gift, GAAC proudly offers students a one-year membership, thanks in part to support from our membership.

List of participants – You can see more details and contact information in their profiles.

Residue

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
Installation approximately 1.2 x 1.0 x 0.7 m
Materials:
Glass tubes, found bricks, photographs, neon
Description:
Residue is an ongoing assemblage that repurposes and redefines discarded materials. Over time it grows and changes, reflecting cycles of decline, transformation, and renewal.

Artist

Coley Coley

Coley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto, whose path is driven by continual experimentation and making. Their practice is largely process-based and explores duality, space, and essence. Coley’s relationship to glass is shaped by their ongoing engagement with collage, drawing, and performance. Coley combines glass techniques with established personal methodologies and materials to create sculptures and installations grounded in play, movement, and experience. Drawn to its dynamic nature, Coley has undertaken a passionate quest to learn the dying art of neon bending. This evolving body of work reflects their continued exploration of embodied place, perception, and material gesture.

Talus Duo

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
11 x 13 x 6 cm, 13 x 14 x 8 cm
Materials:
Blown soft glass
Description:
I have been cultivating a personal mindfulness practice, which I call cairnwork. In the hot shop, my cairnwork follows a process of blowing glass onto mounds of stone and brick. These materials represent a formative, almost ritualistic relationship I had with a place now long gone. The glass encounters and flows around obstacles, finding pathways and settling into the spaces it is given. This repetitive action mirrors the mind, just as the mind mirrors the material. My process often precedes the results; these Talus were not an intentional outcome of my practice. Each one exists as a containment and an expansion, a small monument to permanence and change, a precious glimpse of rare childhood freedom. This is my attempt at honouring the essence of remembered space.

Artist

Coley Coley

Coley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto, whose path is driven by continual experimentation and making. Their practice is largely process-based and explores duality, space, and essence. Coley’s relationship to glass is shaped by their ongoing engagement with collage, drawing, and performance. Coley combines glass techniques with established personal methodologies and materials to create sculptures and installations grounded in play, movement, and experience. Drawn to its dynamic nature, Coley has undertaken a passionate quest to learn the dying art of neon bending. This evolving body of work reflects their continued exploration of embodied place, perception, and material gesture.

A path emerges when things come apart

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
76 x 46 x 40 cm
Materials:
Neon, found bricks, salvaged wood
Description:
When wandering I am often pulled between feelings of isolation and connection. I have addressed this tension through a series of material explorations with neon and collected objects. Once part of a functional system, eroded fragments of bricks are reassembled into new miniature landscapes. In each arrangement a neon tube weaves through, bridging distance and limitations. The brick structures act as thresholds, separation imposed by social and spatial limits. Neon traces the connection between the fixed and the mutable, structure and movement. It illuminates overlapping moments of discovery and instinctive human interaction. These landscapes consider how we navigate spaces, both the ones we build with purpose and the ones we find have built themselves.

Artist

Coley Coley

Coley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto, whose path is driven by continual experimentation and making. Their practice is largely process-based and explores duality, space, and essence. Coley’s relationship to glass is shaped by their ongoing engagement with collage, drawing, and performance. Coley combines glass techniques with established personal methodologies and materials to create sculptures and installations grounded in play, movement, and experience. Drawn to its dynamic nature, Coley has undertaken a passionate quest to learn the dying art of neon bending. This evolving body of work reflects their continued exploration of embodied place, perception, and material gesture.

The Ritual

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
11”x11”x3’5”
Materials:
Glass, ceramics
Description:
Each piece in this collection has been inspired by the artists Irish heritage. This ‘ritualistic urn’ serves as an interactive visitation site —offering a place for remembrance, even when ashes have been scattered elsewhere. In the grieving process, many find comfort in visiting the place where a loved one rests. Speaking to the deceased, especially if parting words were never said, can be a powerful step toward healing. To begin the ritual, write a note to the person who has passed. When you’re ready, light the message in the flame above and allow the burning note to fall into the bowl below. This symbolic act offers a moment of release—allowing the message to reach the departed, while providing the living a chance to express, reflect, and begin to heal.

Artist

Gemma Esp Gemma Esp

Celtic Cross - Traditional Urn

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
9”x9”x13”
Materials:
Glass
Description:
 In this body of work, the artist explores traditional approaches to urn creation, drawing inspiration from Raku ceramic urns. While she occasionally incorporates ceramics into her pieces, Gemma enjoys working with glass in ways that mimic the appearance of ceramics, bringing an earthy quality to her work. Each piece in the Celtic Collection features a variety of Celtic symbols—this particular piece includes a sandblasted Celtic cross.

Artist

Gemma Esp Gemma Esp

Celtic Orbs

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
6”x6”x6”, 4”x4”x4”,5”x5”x5”
Materials:
Glass
Description:
This piece serves as a companion to ‘The Ritual‘, functioning as a keepsake urn. While incorporating traditional Celtic elements, the body of work seamlessly fits into the modern world. Through numerous conversations, the artist discovered that many people seek a way to honor their loved ones without relying on the typical function of a traditional urn—sitting on a fireplace mantel. Through extensive experimentation, Gemma created a piece that functions as both a meaningful memorial and a work of art. It hangs elegantly on the wall, containing a loved one's ashes without compromising the timeless, traditional Celtic designs the artist cherishes.

Artist

Gemma Esp Gemma Esp

Untitled

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
4” x 3”
Materials:
Murrini, Fused Glass Pattern Bar, Blown Glass
Description:
The happy face murrini cane was constructed and pulled in the hot shop and sliced for pick up onto a blown glass. The spiral fused pattern bar was sliced and picked up in the hot shop as a wrap around a blown glass.

Artist

Marianne Ibrahim Marianne Ibrahim

Marianne Ibrahim is a multidisciplinary artist working across several mediums, with a focus on pattern, color, and the interplay of materials. She graduated from OCAD University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Jewellery & Metalsmithing, while also exploring ceramics and stained glass. In 2025, she completed a four-month glassblowing intensive at the Haliburton School of Art + Design, where she began experimenting with fused pattern bars and murrini in the hot shop. She further developed her skills in cane, filigrana, and complex murrini techniques at Salem Community College and at the Corning Museum of Glass Studio. Ibrahim’s work is driven by curiosity, experimentation, and a love of pattern and color. She actively seeks opportunities to deepen her technical skill while expanding her creative vision. Her practice bridges traditional craft, experimental glass, and interdisciplinary design, producing objects that are both visually striking and technically accomplished.

Untitled

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
4” x 3”
Materials:
Murrini, Blown Glass
Description:
This 6-layered rainbow murrini cane was created by covering consecutive layers of glass gathers with powdered frit of each colour to achieve the coloured bands, which was then sliced and picked up in the hot shop onto a blown glass

Artist

Marianne Ibrahim Marianne Ibrahim

Marianne Ibrahim is a multidisciplinary artist working across several mediums, with a focus on pattern, color, and the interplay of materials. She graduated from OCAD University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Jewellery & Metalsmithing, while also exploring ceramics and stained glass. In 2025, she completed a four-month glassblowing intensive at the Haliburton School of Art + Design, where she began experimenting with fused pattern bars and murrini in the hot shop. She further developed her skills in cane, filigrana, and complex murrini techniques at Salem Community College and at the Corning Museum of Glass Studio. Ibrahim’s work is driven by curiosity, experimentation, and a love of pattern and color. She actively seeks opportunities to deepen her technical skill while expanding her creative vision. Her practice bridges traditional craft, experimental glass, and interdisciplinary design, producing objects that are both visually striking and technically accomplished.

Untitled

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
9” x 9”
Materials:
Fused Glass Pattern Bar
Description:
This decorative fused plate was made by creating a fused pattern bar that was sliced, arranged, and fused again to create the pattern shown.

Artist

Marianne Ibrahim Marianne Ibrahim

Marianne Ibrahim is a multidisciplinary artist working across several mediums, with a focus on pattern, color, and the interplay of materials. She graduated from OCAD University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Jewellery & Metalsmithing, while also exploring ceramics and stained glass. In 2025, she completed a four-month glassblowing intensive at the Haliburton School of Art + Design, where she began experimenting with fused pattern bars and murrini in the hot shop. She further developed her skills in cane, filigrana, and complex murrini techniques at Salem Community College and at the Corning Museum of Glass Studio. Ibrahim’s work is driven by curiosity, experimentation, and a love of pattern and color. She actively seeks opportunities to deepen her technical skill while expanding her creative vision. Her practice bridges traditional craft, experimental glass, and interdisciplinary design, producing objects that are both visually striking and technically accomplished.

Goldilocks Glasses

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
All aprox. 6.5” x 3.5”
Materials:
Blown Glass
Description:
Goldilocks glasses made with twisty cane, Each one is different, intentionally not the same. They might seem similar from a glance, But each is shaped by a glassblower’s dance. Finding a cup that fits perfectly in hand Makes every sip feel perfectly planned

Artist

Taylor Knauff Taylor Knauff

Taylor Knauff recently graduated with distinction from Alberta University of Arts in 2025 majoring in glass with a minor in ceramics. Originally drawn to clay for its raw tactility, Knauff completed a ceramics certificate at The Kootenay School of Arts in Nelson, B.C. in 2018 and returned to Kamloops to set up her own studio. Four years later Knauff followed a desire to learn more and enrolled at the Alberta University of the Arts with the intention of completing a degree in ceramics. In her first semester elective glassblowing class she fell in love with glass’s materiality and the collaborative community surrounding the medium, switching majors instantly. Glass blowing and wheel throwing have become Knauff’s most comfortable states of being. Both practices simultaneously interweave mindful meditative flow while exercising full body coordination, balancing the focus between self and environment and allow her to express her admiration of everyday objects.

Fools Stool

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
16”x11.5” and 11”x 7”
Materials:
Blown Glass, Wood, Led Lights, Epoxy
Description:
Pushing the boundaries of functionality through trial and error, this stool and footrest represents the growth of knowledge and skill behind rigorous trust in material.

Artist

Taylor Knauff Taylor Knauff

Taylor Knauff recently graduated with distinction from Alberta University of Arts in 2025 majoring in glass with a minor in ceramics. Originally drawn to clay for its raw tactility, Knauff completed a ceramics certificate at The Kootenay School of Arts in Nelson, B.C. in 2018 and returned to Kamloops to set up her own studio. Four years later Knauff followed a desire to learn more and enrolled at the Alberta University of the Arts with the intention of completing a degree in ceramics. In her first semester elective glassblowing class she fell in love with glass’s materiality and the collaborative community surrounding the medium, switching majors instantly. Glass blowing and wheel throwing have become Knauff’s most comfortable states of being. Both practices simultaneously interweave mindful meditative flow while exercising full body coordination, balancing the focus between self and environment and allow her to express her admiration of everyday objects.

Playful Pitchers

Year:
2024
Dimensions:
Both 10”x7”x2
Materials:
Blown Glass
Description:
I continuously find myself returning to functionality within my work. I find passion in creating items which can nourish our bodies and enhance our experience simultaneously through use. These glow in the dark murrini pitchers constantly challenged me to find room for patience and play during creation.

Artist

Taylor Knauff Taylor Knauff

Taylor Knauff recently graduated with distinction from Alberta University of Arts in 2025 majoring in glass with a minor in ceramics. Originally drawn to clay for its raw tactility, Knauff completed a ceramics certificate at The Kootenay School of Arts in Nelson, B.C. in 2018 and returned to Kamloops to set up her own studio. Four years later Knauff followed a desire to learn more and enrolled at the Alberta University of the Arts with the intention of completing a degree in ceramics. In her first semester elective glassblowing class she fell in love with glass’s materiality and the collaborative community surrounding the medium, switching majors instantly. Glass blowing and wheel throwing have become Knauff’s most comfortable states of being. Both practices simultaneously interweave mindful meditative flow while exercising full body coordination, balancing the focus between self and environment and allow her to express her admiration of everyday objects.

Antichambre

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
32 x 7 x 5 cm
Materials:
Bullseye Glass
Description:
The Antechamber is formed by three arches representing our inner being.

Artist

Sophie L'Anglais Sophie L'Anglais

Orbital

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
10 to 14 cm length
Materials:
Crystal
Description:
The comets are inspired by comics.

Artist

Sophie L'Anglais Sophie L'Anglais

Locked groove

Year:
2024
Dimensions:
10 x 23 x 18 cm
Materials:
Crystal
Description:
It is a playful, 3D representation of listening to a vinyl album.

Artist

Sophie L'Anglais Sophie L'Anglais

Fluorite I, II & III

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
Large-4"x2"x10" Medium-5"x5"x7" Small-4"x4"x6"
Materials:
Blown and fused glass
Description:
My current collection of work centers around colour harmony on simplified vessel forms, drawing inspiration from colour application and interaction seen in paintings. I wanted to find a way to draw parallels from abstract expressionism, translating the spontaneous gesture of painting into glass through non-traditional colour blending and fusing techniques. It also reflects my continued interest in how painterly aesthetics can inhabit three-dimensional space.

Artist

Lucy Marinig Lucy Marinig

Bluebonnet I, II & III

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
Large- 4"x4"x6" Medium-4"x4"x5" Small-4"x4"x4"
Materials:
Blown and fused glass
Description:
My current collection of work centers around colour harmony on simplified vessel forms, drawing inspiration from colour application and interaction seen in paintings. I wanted to find a way to draw parallels from abstract expressionism, translating the spontaneous gesture of painting into glass through non-traditional colour blending and fusing techniques. It also reflects my continued interest in how painterly aesthetics can inhabit three-dimensional space.

Artist

Lucy Marinig Lucy Marinig

Memory #1

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
4x5x1.75
Materials:
blown glass
Description:
Inspired by nostalgia and memories of non accessible spaces. pulling colour and pattern from interior design of the early 2000’s, and using different colour applications to obscure the colour and pattern to portray the uncertainty of memory. Through the cold working of the outer surface of the objects and creating larger openings portrays the fleeting feeling of a old memory.

Artist

Caelan Nowicki Caelan Nowicki

Caelan moved to Calgary Alberta in 2021 to continue her passion for the arts at Alberta University of arts and Design, with the intention to major in fibre and textiles. Taking a glass blowing class in her second year of her degree she discovered her love for glass and hasn’t looked back. Within her work she continues to further her practice through mixing her two preferred mediums glass and textiles through pattern, texture and colour, as well as physically mixing the two mediums to create sculptural work.

Memory #2

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
4x6x1.5
Materials:
blown glass
Description:
Inspired by nostalgia and memories of non accessible spaces. pulling colour and pattern from interior design of the early 2000’s, and using different colour applications to obscure the colour and pattern to portray the uncertainty of memory. Through the cold working of the outer surface of the objects and creating larger openings portrays the fleeting feeling of a old memory.

Artist

Caelan Nowicki Caelan Nowicki

Caelan moved to Calgary Alberta in 2021 to continue her passion for the arts at Alberta University of arts and Design, with the intention to major in fibre and textiles. Taking a glass blowing class in her second year of her degree she discovered her love for glass and hasn’t looked back. Within her work she continues to further her practice through mixing her two preferred mediums glass and textiles through pattern, texture and colour, as well as physically mixing the two mediums to create sculptural work.

Efflorescence

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
12x12
Materials:
Borosilicate glass, copper wire, brass ring
Description:
Florals inspire this piece of work. Recreating flowers in glass offers the idea of forever because they can not die. Glass allows the vibrancy of flowers to translate into the material concisely. This piece is also a focus on realism, taking inspiration from past glass artists who worked with recreating flowers in glass. Through the artists before these pieces, hopes to build on what was created. Glass offers so much in terms of color and longevity, the translation of it into florals allows a connection of the beauty with the promise of no death.

Artist

Natalie Rebmann Natalie Rebmann

Chroma Collection

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
40x40x5 cm
Materials:
Glass
Description:
This collection aims to turn dessert service into an art form, offering colorful canvases that invite playful presentations.

Artist

Daphnée Trottier Daphnée Trottier

Tremolo

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
8x6 cm
Materials:
Glass
Description:
Inspired by the way sound ripples through water.

Artist

Daphnée Trottier Daphnée Trottier

Hidden Links

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
60x50x25 cm
Materials:
Glass
Description:
This piece is a collaboration between artists Daphnée Trottier and Chloé Vaillant, designed to represent spontaneity through organisation, and honour the relationships we develop through creation.

Artist

Daphnée Trottier Daphnée Trottier

Cat purse

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
24 x 9 x 12cm
Materials:
Glass, leather, copper, metal
Description:
Hand-blown and hot-assembled, this cat purse is my first attempt at attaching multiple elements while hot. It was both challenging and fun, and it looks super cute hanging on my arm.

Artist

Lily Zhao Lily Zhao

Manchen (Lily) Zhao grew up in China and later moved to Canada. She recently graduated from both the Ceramic and Glassblowing certificate programs at HSAD. Since graduation, she has been working part-time assisting at a local glass studio, gaining valuable hands-on experience. While her ceramic background informs her practice, Lily is especially drawn to glassblowing for its fluidity and transparency. Her work explores playful, colourful, layered glass forms that emphasize the dynamic interplay of light, colour, and structure—expanding beyond the possibilities of ceramics.

Observation

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
48 x 22 x 20cm
Materials:
Glass
Description:
This set of four blown glass sculptures explores the interplay between observing and being observed. Each piece features a dome-shaped or broken glass with eye patterns drawn using stringers, nested inside a larger outer dome that’s either bubble-filled or sandblasted. The layered structure invites viewers to look closer—yet as they peer inside, the eyes embedded within seem to return the gaze. The work suggests that observation is never one-sided; to see is also to be seen.

Artist

Lily Zhao Lily Zhao

Manchen (Lily) Zhao grew up in China and later moved to Canada. She recently graduated from both the Ceramic and Glassblowing certificate programs at HSAD. Since graduation, she has been working part-time assisting at a local glass studio, gaining valuable hands-on experience. While her ceramic background informs her practice, Lily is especially drawn to glassblowing for its fluidity and transparency. Her work explores playful, colourful, layered glass forms that emphasize the dynamic interplay of light, colour, and structure—expanding beyond the possibilities of ceramics.

Sea to land

Year:
2025
Dimensions:
90 x 50 x 55cm
Materials:
Glass, shapecrete, copper wire, dirt, moss
Description:
In this set of ocean-inspired works, I combine materials to explore the transition from sea to land. Glass—with its fluidity and transparency—embodies the sea, taking forms such as seaweed, water, jellyfish, sea slugs, and coral. Shapecrete, a hand-moldable concrete material enriched with dirt and moss, represents the land. By merging these materials, I create a dialogue between ocean life and earth, imagining sea creatures adapting and living within a grounded, organic landscape. This approach also allows me to explore multidisciplinary possibilities.

Artist

Lily Zhao Lily Zhao

Manchen (Lily) Zhao grew up in China and later moved to Canada. She recently graduated from both the Ceramic and Glassblowing certificate programs at HSAD. Since graduation, she has been working part-time assisting at a local glass studio, gaining valuable hands-on experience. While her ceramic background informs her practice, Lily is especially drawn to glassblowing for its fluidity and transparency. Her work explores playful, colourful, layered glass forms that emphasize the dynamic interplay of light, colour, and structure—expanding beyond the possibilities of ceramics.