John Howard, Melt 2, 2025, Hot cast glass, steel, LED, enamel, 14 x 12 x 7 in

John Howard is a Seattle-based sculptor. His figurative works incorporate cast glass, steel, LED, and enamel. His practice examines how traditional craft techniques impart individuality to computer-designed objects. John's sculptures are designed in CAD and hand-built in traditional materials like wood and glass. This introduces a series of progressive, organic errors and transforms a digital object that can be perfectly and infinitely replicated into a physical object with singular character. John's work for the 2026 MoNA Art Auction is part of his current series, "Imperfect Characters". Objects in the series are designed in CAD software and hand-built from wood. When this happens the crisp edges and perfect angles of the CAD are disrupted by the bevels, warps, and natural grain of the wood. Next, the wooden forms are then pressed into sand to make molds for traditional hot casting. The act of pouring molten glass causes portions of the sand to collapse or erode creating more unexpected details. The glass is then mounted in a steel frame fabricated to conceal lighting elements. When displayed, the lighting highlights the artifacts introduced during the process. The illogical fight against perfectionism is motivated by John's 20-plus year career in commercial art. There, the same digital tools enable effortless perfection but make it easy to produce work lacking human warmth. His current series grapples with this by reversing the pursuit of perfection to rediscover an object's hidden individuality.