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October 15, 2025 - Josh Simpson on making glass on the moon, Pedro Alonzo and Patrick Martinez on "Cost of Living"

43:34 |

About The Episode

Acclaimed glass artist Josh Simpson crafts luminous worlds in miniature. His signature “Planets” —swirls of color and complexity sealed inside glass  — reflect his lifelong fascination with space and science. Now, he’s received a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts grant to explore how lunar dust could be melted into glass for future Moon habitats, in collaboration with architect Martin Bermudez of Skyeports, LLC. Simpson’s new book, “Josh Simpson: 50 Years of Visionary Glass,” and his retrospective of the same is  on view at the Sandwich Glass Museum through October. To learn more go here.

From there we’re joined by Pedro Alonzo, independent curator and Artistic Director of the Boston Public Art Triennial and one of the Triennial’s featured  artists, Patrick Martinez. His installation “Cost of Living.” Working with Breaktime, an organization that supports young adults experiencing homelessness, he’s created a series of illuminated signs. They look like storefront advertisements, but their messages — phrases like “People Over Property” — tell a different story: one about struggle, empathy, and being seen. To learn more go here.

Support for GBH is provided by: