Ossuary

Ossuary (2026)

Object Permanence 11 | Lawson Fenning

Medium: Copper-foiled fused glass, hinged box

Dimensions: 9"W x 5 1/2"D x 8 1/4"H

Created for Object Permanence: Urns, this piece looks to the ancient ossuary, a funerary form used between the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE. Urns fall outside traditional Jewish burial practice, so I looked instead to a historical vessel associated with death and remembrance and recast it in glass.

The limestone body becomes opaque Bullseye glass, intentionally using clear glass beneath the fused decoration. Striped glass was first fused, then cut into borders and geometric elements and tack fused directly over those transparent areas, allowing light to pour through the pattern itself. The lid remains opaque, with two six-lobed rosettes built from individually cut pieces of striped glass. Where the original decoration was carved into stone, here it projects outward in luminous relief.

Saturated color and transparency pull the object away from archaeology and into a contemporary material language, while the copper-foiled construction and hinged lid preserve the intimacy of the original form.