Josh Simpson Art Glass Planets - A Tribute to an Artist

-article by melaniekaren

image credit - photo by melaniekaren
A photo of one of my "uninhabited planet"
made by glass artist Josh Simpson.
It was given to me as a gift, and I love it.

World-wide Renowned Glass Artist Josh Simpson and His Planets

I was introduced to a planet collection of Josh Simpson's over twenty years ago. I was immediately enthralled with these little balls of amazing artistry, creativity, and imagination. Each one is whimsical and unique. No two are alike, and they are all wonderful and magical to gaze into.

If you like and appreciate glass work and sculpture, you are surely to like Josh Simpsons work and personal story.

Josh Simpson is a self taught artist. He began in 1972, and at an early age, he developed a very strong passion for working with glass, molten glass specifically. He was very driven, working long hours every day of the week for years perfecting his craftsmanship, techniques, and overall artistry. He began with teaching himself how to blow matching pairs of wine goblets. Throughout his career, he has made many vases, glass bowls, large serving dishes, and other glass art pieces. He still makes these today, and they are exquisite. However, what he is most known for is his planets.

Today, he is probably the most respected and loved glass artist of our time. His story is one of inspiration, and I hope you like it as much as I.

There are Three Categories of Planets

This was one of the things that I really liked about the planets when learning about them for the first time. The concept was simple, yet brilliant, and it lent itself to the wonderful whimsical quality of the planets.

You really begin to use your imagination in identifying all of the objects within these worlds. Is there water? Is there an atmosphere? Look! I think that's a satellite!

Josh Simpson Glass Artist
Click image to see on AMAZON

The following definitions of the three types of planet categories are as follows.


Uninhabited Planets - The uninhabited planets are usually rather small, and they have no obvious atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, of course the planet is uninhabited. The photo of my planet above is an example of an uninhabited planet. To me, it seems to be primarily an uninhabited water world.

Possibly Inhabited Planets - These are not as easy to identify. You're looking for signs of life and a possible atmosphere. If you notice something that represents to you a satellite or something that may be in space toward the surface of the sphere above an apparent atmosphere, chances are the planet is definitely inhabited and not possibly inhabited. See! Isn't this fun.

Inhabited Planets - These are probably the most loved since there is so much going on in the inhabited planets. With the inhabited planets, you will definitely see what seems to be an atmosphere and even items within the atmosphere, such as clouds, other gases, or objects in a sky. It's up to you what you see. The world I have pictured here to the left is an inhabited planet, and for me, it is a water world filled with coral reefs. I see it as teeming with life with a very obvious atmosphere. In fact, I would say, it's a sunny day.

The planets came in three sizes when they were originally introduced. As their popularity increased, "Mega-planets" became readily available for purchase. These are large and very fun. You can surely become lost in these little "mega" worlds.

image credit - photo by Victorian_lady of one of Mr. Simpson's fully inhabited planets.

image credit - photo by Beth titled "Ruined Castle,
Kweskwam Complex, Gondar" that reads, "as part of the
Josh Simpson infinity project, a small marble planet was
left here in memory of Jonathan"

Josh Simpsons Infinity Project

hiding of the planets

In 2000, Josh Simpson began his Infinity Project. For some time prior to 2000 he has started hiding his planets in interesting places around the globe. He thought he would leave his little spheres in places for archeologists to find. How he came up with the idea is a fun, great story, and I highly recommend you to watch at least one of the two videos I have listed below.

His Infinity Project quickly caught on, and now, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of his small planets hidden around the globe. They have been tossed into volcanoes, taken to the North Pole, thrown into motes around castles, and even taken into space. If you visit his website at www.joshsimpson.com, you may read more about the Infinity Project and even request a planet to hide in a special place. If your idea resonates with him, he will send you two planets, one to keep and one to hide. He is awesome like that!

Meet Mr. Simpson. He's an Incredibly Great Speaker. Enjoy!