This installation and performance features glass instruments created at WheatonArts. The project riffs off of WheatonArts’ 1970s origins as a fake Victorian village. Located in the Museum’s lobby—a simulated Victorian parlor—it channels the spirit of parlor music played by amateurs in their living rooms during the 19th century. McDonald and Baird designed the instruments inspired by historic glass objects from WheatonArts’ collection: Window-glass rondels become gongs; garden cloches turn into bells; pharmacy vials transform a hoop skirt into wind chimes, and glass whimsies inspire fantastical horns. The performance explores the myriad ways glass can speak in a dialogue between the ghosts of WheatonArts past and the glass of some imagined future.

Phantom Frequencies was part of Emanation 2019, curated by Julie Courtney, featuring the works and creative process of artists Jessie Krimes, Tristin Lowe, Martha McDonald and Laura Baird, Karyn Olivier, Richard Torchia, Allan Wexler, and Jo Yarrington. Displayed in the Museum of American Glass, April 2 through December 31, 2019.