Beloved Arts Gallery In The Woodlands Wants You To Look Through Glass — Showcasing a Vital Material

Ardest Gallery is asking visitors to look again — this time through glass.

The beloved Woodlands arts gallery is showing a new exhibit dubbed “Thresholds” through May 30. The show is curated by Austin-based glass artist Malina Cipleu. The exhibit centers on glass as a material of transition and connection, exploring how it separates and connects at once. It is also a juried show featuring glass works from Texas artists, selected by Cipleu, with prizes awarded.

First place went to Deborah Ellington for her kiln-formed glass piece “Encased in Time III.” Mary Torres took second place with “Polka Dot Jungle.” Sandi Neiman earned third for “River Dreams,” a kiln-carved glass work.

Although Cipleu could not attend, Ardest Gallery owner Julie Verville shared her remarks during the opening.

“I kept coming back to how present glass is in our everyday lives,” Cipleu says. “We’re constantly looking through it, often without noticing it.”

That tension sits at the heart of the exhibit. “It separates us, but also connects us, shaping how we see and experience the world,” Cipleu says. “That in-between quality became the starting point for this concept.”

The exhibit explores that idea in different ways. Some glass works stand alone, while others are part of larger, mixed-material pieces.

A Medium Shaped by Light

Glass is not static — and the artists at this Ardest Gallery exhibit lean into that.

“All of them engage glass as a live material that shifts with light and space,” Verville says.

She adds that Cipleu wants visitors to pause and take it in. “Notice those shifts: how the work changes depending on where you stand, how light moves through it and how layers begin to reveal themselves as you look,” she says.

Cipleu and Verville connected earlier in the artist’s journey with glass.

“The first time I met her was at The Woodlands Arts Festival, and she was making jewelry,” Verville says. She approached Cipleu at her booth and asked if she could show her work.

“I carried her jewelry for a while, but she doesn’t make jewelry anymore,” Verville tells PaperCity The Woodlands. “She has evolved her craft into huge installations and is really pushing the boundaries of what glass can do.”

“Thresholds” is a group glass art exhibition on display through May 30. Ardest Gallery is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 10 am to 2 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. For more information, go here.