A pair of lambs, a lion, a double-humped camel, and a swan. All of these are hidden within the dense layers of flowers, patterned leaves, and floral elements that form this sculpture, which is made entirely from mass-produced vintage American pressed glass that Amber Cowan has transformed. The original pressed glass objects, including candy dishes, teacups, and plates made between the 1940s and the 1980s, are picked up by Cowan at thrift shops and flea markets or on eBay. This sculpture is made primarily of snack sets (consisting of a plate and a cup) in the “Colony Harvest” pattern produced by the Indiana Glass Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cowan breaks and then reheats the glass, flameworking and hot-sculpting it into tiny leaves, fruits, roses, and abstract spirals, bits, and spikes. By creating something new out of something old, Cowan says that she “reincarnates” the glass, giving it a “second life.” The title, Garden of the Forgotten and Extinct, refers to the fact that the commercial milk glass (called “milk” for its opaque white color) that Cowan repurposes is no longer made. Originally traded for S&H Green Stamps, this common, inexpensive glass has been discarded and forgotten by contemporary culture, whose interests, styles, and fashions are vastly different from those of the era that the original glass represents. Signed: “Amber/Cowan/14,” in pen on back of sculpture and on back of metal mount. The most recent article on Cowan is Elizabeth Maskasky, “Amber Cowan Repurposes Glass Knickknacks for Elaborate Sculptures,” High Fructose, http://hifructose .com/2014/01/24/amber-cowan-repurposes-glass-knickknacks-for-elaborate-sculptures/, posted January 24, 2014. For more information, see www.ambercowanglass.com.