creates a man-made meteorite using molten glass and metallic oxides.

One of Simpson’s megaplanets, a foot in diameter, in the MCLA Gallery 51 in North Adams, Mass.

The features inside the planets are made from bits of colored glass, and occasionally gold or platinum foil.

Simpson’s giant platters are inspired by the roiling sun.

An explosion of colored glass.

Seemingly on fire.

SATURN:

Another giant platter is formed by a glass planet and concentric glass rings. Making it, Simpson says, “involves a rigorous procedure that requires the help of all of my assistants and hours of focused labor.” ...[More]

SATURN:

Another giant platter is formed by a glass planet and concentric glass rings. Making it, Simpson says, “involves a rigorous procedure that requires the help of all of my assistants and hours of focused labor.”  [Less] [Link to this slide]

MANMADE METEORITE:

Simpson recreates a class of meteorites known as tektites in his glass furnace; his objects have the same chemical composition as the real space-borne debris....[More]

MANMADE METEORITE:

Simpson recreates a class of meteorites known as tektites in his glass furnace; his objects have the same chemical composition as the real space-borne debris. He then fashions inset glass portals in them.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Some tektites have reflective glass surfaces instead of portals.

Simpson prepares to torch a proto-planet that he’s pulled from his glass furnace.

At 50 pounds, crafting a megaplanet requires heavy lifting and protection from its heat.

Simpson rolls a molten planet in a tray of glass bits he has already colored, to create the continents and other structures inside the eventually completed world.

Simpson with his astronaut wife, Cady Coleman, and their son, Jamey, sitting in an Atlantis shuttle main engine.