Glass Artist Judith Schaechter’s Largest Work Opens at Michener Art Museum

The Super/Natural dome’s 65 panels are filled with a riot of imagined insects, flora, plants, and birds, encouraging visitors to imagine themselves subsumed in the natural world, with all its beauty, violence, decay, and growth. The central stained-glass structure, reminiscent of a church, creates a sublime sanctuary space for the secular.

“My goal is to invite viewers into a deeply personal, immersive experience that explores the connections between self, nature, and imagination,” Schaechter said. “We are ultimately connected to, not just observing, nature.”

Curated by Laura Turner Igoe, Ph.D., the Michener Art Museum’s Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest Chief Curator, Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural will feature nine additional stained-glass pieces by Schaechter to complement the dome and provide a context for the debut of her new work. 

These pieces similarly examine the cultural construction of nature, and are presented along with a series of drawings and sketches related to the Super/Natural dome.

“It was thrilling to work with Judith on this exhibition and see the Super/Natural dome evolve over the past couple of years,” Igoe said. “Through the dome and other pieces on view in Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural, Judith embraces awe and wonder in order to encourage viewers to consider their own relationship with the natural world.”

Schaechter’s work is collected internationally and included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Smithsonian, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Hermitage in Russia, along with numerous others. Among other honors, Schaechter was inducted into the American Craft Council of College Fellows in 2013, received a lifetime achievement award from the Glass Art Society in 2022, and was the recipient of the Smithsonian Visionary Award in 2024.

“The Michener is honored to be the first institution to exhibit Judith Schaechter’s Super/Natural,” said Michener Art Museum executive director Anne Corso. “Schaechter’s work honors the tradition of stained glass and yet pushes the boundaries of the medium with her intricate process and complex imagery—it is truly awe-inspiring.”

The exhibition Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural is supported by the Gorsky Family, Rago/Wright, with additional support from Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass and an anonymous donor. The Super/Natural dome will next appear in an exhibition presented by the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, California.

###

Interior Viewing for the Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural dome, on view at the Judith Schaechter: Super/Natural exhibition April 12– September 14, 2025: Hours for interior viewing of the Super/Natural dome are 11 a.m.– 3 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday during museum hours.

About the Artist:
Judith Schaechter is a renowned glass artist who has lived and worked in Philadelphia since graduating in 1983 with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design Glass Program. She has exhibited widely, including in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, the Hague, and Växjö, Sweden. She is the recipient of many grants, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Crafts, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the Joan Mitchell Award, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Awards, The Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and a Leeway Foundation grant. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Hermitage in Russia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous other public and private collections. Schaechter was inducted into the American Craft Council of College Fellows in 2013, and, in 2024, she was the recipient of the Smithsonian Visionary Award.

About Michener Art Museum:
Address: 138 S. Pine Street, Doylestown PA 18901
Website: michenerartmuseum.org
Hours: Wednesdays–Sundays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Open until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Admission is free on the second Sunday of the month with support from Art Bridges Foundation.

Michener Art Museum in Doylestown is dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting the art and cultural heritage of the Bucks County region. Home to the largest public collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings, the Michener is named for Doylestown’s most famous son James A. Michener, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who first dreamed of a regional art museum in the early 1960s. The Museum was originally home to the 19th-century Bucks County Prison and is surrounded by the historic stone prison walls which are part of the Patricia D. Pfundt Sculpture Garden, terraces, and a landscaped courtyard. Michener Art Museum features nationally touring special exhibitions, work from regional artists in distinctive galleries, and the quiet and serene Nakashima Reading Room.