Hi Suzanne,

Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.

Lucy Chamberlain is a California-based studio glass artist celebrated for exuberantly colored, organically formed blown-glass sculpture. Her work combines sophisticated hot-glass technique with an intensely decorative sensibility, using translucency, color and undulating forms.

At Lucy's website (www.lucychamberlain.com), she describes her process: "As a glass blower, I seek to celebrate the qualities that only glass offers: transparency, translucency and its forever-liquid state. My influences are primarily from the natural world, fabulous orchids, fluorescent sea-creatures, and a suggestion of flora-fauna morphing....With molten glass as my medium, I strive to create art that is organically evocative. I first gather the molten glass on a blowpipe, which is a 5-foot long hollow steel tube, and after blowing a small bubble in the glass, shape the piece with hand tools....Then, using the laws of physics to “spin the glass out,” I create loose, ripply, organic forms. Through my blown glass process I transport to places otherwise unavailable to me: the ocean floor, touching anemones and urchins, the inside of a Malaysian orchid, the garden of the goddess. Against the harshness and strife of the world, I throw beauty, the combatant at my disposal."

Her work is often compared to that of Dale Chihuly, with critics appreciating her "intense, often explosive palette", "vibrant hand blown art glass" and "occupying a space between contemporary studio glass and high-end decorative art."

The "cracked glaze" exterior of this bowl is an example of the IKORA technique, a specialized crackle and powder inclusion technique pioneered during the Art Deco period by the German engineer, Karl Wiedmann who was working for WMF (Wurttembergische Metallwarenfabrik).

Chamberlain does not usually work in this style; it's atypical to her oeuvre. Collectors often want typical and representative works so this would be unlikely to bring as much at auction as one of her more characteristic pieces, in the $200-300 range at auction. Note these are fair-market/wholesale prices

If you're looking to sell this privately, I would price it at or around $450, which would bring it in line with similar works by other makers.

Based on the photos and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:

Lucy Chamberlain (American, 20th/21st Century)
Ikora glass bowl
Of circular section and tapered form, on a pressed round foot; the green glass with cracked pink glaze to the exterior; signed to the underside of the foot.
Approximately 6-1/2 inches high
CONDITION: this appears to be in good condition
PROVENANCE: acquired from Goodwill online
$ 200-300*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.

Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, or questions/concerns, and thank you again for using Mearto.
~ Delia