Draper Matthews – Shulgin Glass Project
Little Pharma · Shulgin Glass Project
Draper Matthews
Educator & multimedia glass sculptor
Educator and multimedia sculptor specializing in glass, whose artistic practice orbits around the connection between the human experience and the concepts of time, space, metaphysics, and the void.
Draper works as an educator and assistant studio manager at Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, and as a freelance artist and technician for institutions including Pilchuck Glass School and The Corning Museum of Glass. His work has been shown internationally and featured in New Glass Review 45.
Single Edition
Little Pharma
Little Pharma is a single sculptural object inspired directly by the pharmacological work of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin and his commitment to advancing research on psychoactive compounds. Standing 11 inches tall and weighing under three pounds, it is composed of several glass components — some crafted, some gifted. At its midsection sits the artifact itself: a stunning remnant of an approximately 6-inch diameter Pyrex-borosilicate beaker, given to the artist by the Shulgin Foundation. Using traditional and contemporary hot-glass sculpting techniques, Draper followed the beaker’s original contour to mend, or “complete,” the form — as Sasha’s work and legacy continue to mend people around the world.
Pill capsules on the exterior hold encapsulated glass smiley faces — murrini, in the language of glass — which the artist calls his “happy pills.” Two contrasting glass flowers perch on the rim of the open vessel, symbolizing the codependent relationship between the synthetic and the natural. Two bands of twisted zanfirico cane mark the boundary between what is artifact and what is crafted; their coloration draws on DanceSafe’s iconography, the cane supporting and surrounding the artifact much as DanceSafe’s commitment to education, safety, respect, and consent helps safeguard us all. Floating in the middle of the vessel, framed by the artifact, is a cluster of pills in many colors, representing the vast number of compounds Sasha may have brought into existence using the very beaker they are viewed through.
The Shulgin glass: the artifact is prominently displayed at the center of the work and remains intact and very minimally altered.
In the artist’s words
Artist Statement
My favorite part about making artwork is solving problems, and I have yet to find a material that presents me with as many novel problems as glass. The temperament of the material keeps me coming back again and again. I really must just like being smacked around a bit, because every time I light my torch a delicate balance must be struck between control and fluidity, and a tightrope walked between success and catastrophic failure. I feel that a chemist must work under similar self-inflicted pressures — the meticulous and repetitive measuring, executing of experiments, observing, and ultimately learning and adapting. The stakes are high, and demand everything of us.
This piece is inspired by and celebrates Alexander Shulgin and his legacy — a legacy that I have personally benefited from, directly and indirectly, in numerous ways on many occasions. But for me this piece speaks to something more universal, something I have reason to believe Sasha and I shared: a true and unwavering love for our respective crafts. This piece is my tipping of my hat to Alexander Shulgin, one creator to another.
Meet the artist
About the Artist
Draper came to art in the form of large-scale charcoal drawing and painting during his early twenties, after a well-timed introduction to drawing course coincided with an LSD-inspired epiphany about the important role the act of creating plays in human flourishing. He went on to receive his Associate in Arts from HCC, his Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking and glass, and finally his Master of Fine Arts in glass and multimedia sculpture from Illinois State University.
In Draper’s five years of working in glass, his catalog can be described as “aesthetically inconsistent.” It is better characterized by his work’s willingness to bend and break the written rules of medium-specific craft traditions and the unspoken taboos of contemporary craft norms — achieved through bold mixed-media approaches, inventive object assembly tactics, and unorthodox surface treatments.
His work grapples with concepts of space, time, the void, metaphysics, and free will, and his practice is informed primarily by his own firsthand experiences, reflections, and meditations. He describes it as “…a way for me to mull over the unknowable without curling up in the fetal position on my kitchen floor. Flirting with existential content can be difficult at times on the psyche, but playing with matter is the gift of being in the world. I learn something about myself and the space or lack thereof that I inhabit every time I work in my studio, and often end up creating something I think is damn cool, and for me, that’s a pretty great outcome.”
Today, Draper works as an educator and assistant studio manager at Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, Missouri. He also operates as a freelance artist and contractor, providing art education and glass and sculptural consultation and technician services to notable artists and institutions including John Miller, Eriko Kobayashi, Melanie Hunter, Nicolas Africano, Pilchuck Glass School (WA), and The Corning Museum of Glass (NY). His work has been shown internationally and has been featured in publications such as New Glass Review 45, published by The Corning Museum of Glass. His most recent solo exhibition, Reconciliation, was well received in the spring of 2026.
Specifications & Care Instructions
Draper Matthews completed Little Pharma on July 17, 2026, over roughly 200 hours of planning and physical labor. The lab glass used is from Batch #36. A small engraved signature reading Draper D. Matthews 2026 sits on the lower edge of the artifact, executed to be as archival, permanent, and minimally distracting as possible.
The piece is made entirely of borosilicate glass components welded together permanently with intense heat. Great care has been taken to weld and anneal the glass so that any visible or invisible stress is removed from the finished work. As with all glass, it remains fragile and should be handled with care: avoid sudden impacts such as drops, falls, and bumps, along with intense or sustained vibration. Take extreme caution if the piece is shipped by a third party that does not exclusively handle works of art.
Borosilicate is the same glass used in chemistry apparatus, so it is by nature highly resistant to extreme temperature fluctuation, outside contaminants, UV radiation, and scratching.
Display the work somewhere secure, such as an anchored flat surface; a removable museum gel adds further insurance against the piece being knocked over. Because it is mostly transparent, it looks most brilliant in strong, direct light — sunlight is the best source for maximizing the beauty of transparent glass.
The object has many distinct surfaces owing to how it was constructed, so use compressed air for light dusting. A lint-free microfiber towel and isopropyl alcohol will remove residue and fingerprints; heavier cleaning can be done with warm water, non-abrasive dish soap, and a sponge.
Should the object break, it may be possible for a skilled borosilicate glassblower to repair it, depending on how the breakage manifests and the skill of the artist contracted. Reach out and we will connect you with Draper, who will do his best to help you find proper repair options.
How to acquire
Acquire a piece
To purchase, please send a 3-5 sentence statement of interest.
