ã2003 by Ross Matteson   blown glass & forged steel   16 x 17 x 17 inches  private collection

"There is little else more personal in the American West than a cowboy's hat.   As such, the hat becomes an expressive wealth of inspiration for my glass cowboy hat series.   The first of these, Gold Dust, takes the contemporary media of glass and grinds out the colorful character of the prospector who is suggested by it.    Given the old western ambience of the subject, I decided to sculpt the support form in wrought iron."