Enabling Transparency
Glass artist Anna Mlasowsky examines the history of the rare earth elements and their socio-ecological impact on local communities and the environment.
Ongoing
du Pont Lobby
Glass artist Anna Mlasowsky examines the history of the rare earth elements and their socio-ecological impact on local communities and the environment.
On display in the Science History Institute’s du Pont Lobby, Enabling Transparency features Mlasowsky’s work based on her research in our archival and object collections. Her glass artwork explores and interprets the connections between rare earth elements, their extraction, and their uses, including their effects as glass colorants.
A highlight of the exhibition is Mine Vessel, a glass sculpture she donated to the Institute. Pink erbium ions, which have optical fluorescent properties particularly useful in certain laser applications, are incorporated into the glass compound, causing the piece to have its characteristic pink appearance.
Mlasowsky is a Seattle-based, German-born visual artist who was a Haas Short-Term Fellow and the Institute’s first artist-in-residence.
The du Pont Lobby is named after French American chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771–1834), founder of the DuPont Company, one of today’s leading science and engineering enterprises.