The source of inspiration for Mark Peiser’s “Palomar” series is the largest object owned by The Corning Museum of Glass. This is the first (failed) casting for the mirror of the Hale Reflecting Telescope. The second (successful) cast mirror is still in operation at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California. Nicknamed the “200-inch Disk,” the giant mirror was developed by Corning Glass Works scientists in 1934. For decades, it was the largest single cast glass object ever made. In developing his “Palomar” series, Peiser wrote that he wanted to “acknowledge those who have experienced expanding the boundaries of glass, to recognize the existence and place of failure in that pursuit, to convey the wonder, awe, beauty and scale I experienced on first seeing the cast at Corning, to revisit the aesthetic of the industrial age when parts were made and assembled by hand and eye, and to create a glass that not only transmits or reflects light, but which embodies it.” The opal glass that Peiser used for the series is his own recipe. Peiser has been actively making and exhibiting blown and cast objects in glass since the early 1970s. He has never hesitated to explore new directions in glass and glassmaking techniques. Signed “MARK PEISER INC. / PENLAND, NC, USA / PROJECT / PALOMAR SERIES °03 / TITLE / SECTION 1, “VEILS”, / CAST SCALE BY / 2/27/9 1 / 3 111 PEISER” on label on base. For more information on Mark Peiser’s work, see Pamela L. Myers and Dan Klein, Looking Within: Mark Peiser, the Art of Glass: Works from 1967–2003, Asheville, North Carolina: Asheville Art Museum, 2003.