A retired ExxonMobil geoscientist, a sculptor with a master's in fine arts and their glassblower son have filled The Woodlands Arts Council gallery with handmade glass pieces that trace a family's shared obsession with molten material.

"Heart of Glass: A Family Shaped by Fire" features work by Sally Pennington Moore, Michael Kerry Brown and Patrick Kerry Brown, a family that operates a glassblowing studio together. The exhibition opened Aug. 11 at the council's Grogan's Mill gallery and runs through Oct. 8, with an opening reception scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m., according to Woodlands Online.

Curator Annette Palmer, a 20-year Woodlands resident who has organized multiple shows for the gallery, said in the exhibition announcement that the pieces reveal "a household working in harmony, while allowing each artist's unique voice to resonate with clarity."

Each artist brings a different lens to the medium.

Moore spent 35 years modeling subsurface geology at ExxonMobil before retiring in 2013 to work with glass full-time. On her studio website, she describes how her scientific background shapes her art: "I work with molten fluids and see how metal oxides (color) affect the mobility and density of the glass."

Brown, who holds an MFA in sculpture from the University of Houston, has focused on glass as his primary sculptural material for more than a decade. Patrick Kerry Brown, their son, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Houston in 2014 with a business degree and grew up immersed in jazz and blues. He has said glass "seemed to move to the beat of its own drum."

The family discovered glassblowing together during a vacation to the Pacific Northwest, where Moore and Brown took weekend classes. Patrick joined after attending an introductory course at Coastal Bend State College. By April 2014, the family had opened Three Dimensional Visions, described as the greater Houston area's only open-access glassblowing studio, according to a Voyage Houston profile of the family.

The reception on Sept. 17 is open to the public. Residents can RSVP through the Woodlands Arts Council website. The gallery, at 9450 Grogans Mill Road, Suite 160, is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Upcoming community events:

  • Sept. 17: "Heart of Glass" opening reception, 6 p.m., TWAC Gallery, 9450 Grogans Mill Road, Suite 160
  • Oct. 8: Final day of the "Heart of Glass" exhibition
  • Oct. 31: Woodlands Pride festival, Halloween theme