Catherine Vamvakas Lay — Abstract Biomorphic Colored Hand-Blown Glass with Bronze Cradle (Signed)
Dimensions:
10” W × 2.6” D × 3” H
Medium & Signature:
Blown hot-sculptured glass (amber, clear, yellow seed) mounted on a cast bronze leaf stand; monogram signature on the bronze stand.
Condition:
Very fine — no significant flaws or damage; the work displays with the clarity and integrity expected of mature studio pieces.
Catherine Vamvakas Lay is a Canadian artist whose practice integrates hand-blown glass with cast bronze to create sculptural forms that balance fragility with permanence. Born to Greek parents, she frequently draws upon Hellenic mythology and symbolism—particularly the pomegranate—as metaphors for fertility, spirituality, and transformation. Her work merges cultural memory with contemporary studio glass innovation, producing objects that feel both archetypal and distinctly modern.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from York University and later studied glass at the Sheridan Institute of Technology in Ontario, where she developed her signature biomorphic vocabulary in glass. Following her studies, she was awarded a full-time residency at the Harbourfront Centre Glass Studio in Toronto, where she refined her technical and conceptual approach.
Vamvakas Lay has exhibited widely in Canada, the United States, Korea, Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Her work has been included in both solo and group exhibitions, notably at Oeno Gallery (Ontario), which presented Negotiating Diaspora: From the Personal to the Universal (2021), an exhibition exploring identity, heritage, and material expression.
Her sculptures are represented in private and public collections across Canada, the United States, Amsterdam, and Korea. Through the interplay of transparent glass and weighty bronze, she continues to investigate themes of ancestry, myth, and the unconscious, situating her practice within the broader lineage of late 20th- and early 21st-century studio glass.
Catherine Vamvakas Lay — Abstract Biomorphic Colored Hand-Blown Glass with Bronze Cradle (Signed)
Dimensions:
10” W × 2.6” D × 3” H
Medium & Signature:
Blown hot-sculptured glass (amber, clear, yellow seed) mounted on a cast bronze leaf stand; monogram signature on the bronze stand.
Condition:
Very fine — no significant flaws or damage; the work displays with the clarity and integrity expected of mature studio pieces.
Catherine Vamvakas Lay is a Canadian artist whose practice integrates hand-blown glass with cast bronze to create sculptural forms that balance fragility with permanence. Born to Greek parents, she frequently draws upon Hellenic mythology and symbolism—particularly the pomegranate—as metaphors for fertility, spirituality, and transformation. Her work merges cultural memory with contemporary studio glass innovation, producing objects that feel both archetypal and distinctly modern.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from York University and later studied glass at the Sheridan Institute of Technology in Ontario, where she developed her signature biomorphic vocabulary in glass. Following her studies, she was awarded a full-time residency at the Harbourfront Centre Glass Studio in Toronto, where she refined her technical and conceptual approach.
Vamvakas Lay has exhibited widely in Canada, the United States, Korea, Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Her work has been included in both solo and group exhibitions, notably at Oeno Gallery (Ontario), which presented Negotiating Diaspora: From the Personal to the Universal (2021), an exhibition exploring identity, heritage, and material expression.
Her sculptures are represented in private and public collections across Canada, the United States, Amsterdam, and Korea. Through the interplay of transparent glass and weighty bronze, she continues to investigate themes of ancestry, myth, and the unconscious, situating her practice within the broader lineage of late 20th- and early 21st-century studio glass.
