Louise Irvine

Jellyfish are mostly solitary, but they group together in swarms when following food or traveling in the same currents. Josh Fradis depicted two of these mesmerizing creatures, gracefully pulsating through ocean waters, in The Journey of Two, his latest glass masterpiece now at WMODA. Josh will be creating an underwater paradise in glass for our upcoming Splash! exhibition, which opens on February 21.

In addition to his marvelous glass jellyfish, Josh will incorporate his iconic crashing waves and coral caverns inhabited by octopus, stingrays and turtles into a stunning installation celebrating the beauty of Florida’s ocean reefs. Josh moved to Florida from California in 2018, and since then, he has been making waves in the WMODA Museum Shop and Studio Collection with his incredible glass art.

Most recently, Josh has been seduced by the ethereal beauty of jellyfish, which he captures using the fluidity of molten glass. Jellyfish symbolize a fascinating paradox: transparent beauty coupled with defensive power. This duality has long captivated the human imagination, inspiring myths and legends in various cultures. In Japanese folklore, a cautionary tale tells of a boastful jellyfish, beautiful as the moon, that loses its bones after being punished by the Dragon King of the Sea. In Chinese cultures, jellyfish symbolize adaptability and transformation. As they drift with the ocean currents, they represent the Taoist principles of going with the flow and adapting to surroundings.

The jellyfish spirit animal symbolizes adaptability, transparency, and the graceful navigation of life’s challenges, while also hinting at hidden power through its stingers, which denote danger, protection and inner power. They also represent the exploration of intuitive wisdom and the subconscious, like the unknown depths of the ocean. In Greek mythology, they have been associated with Medusa, the Gorgon, and are equally misunderstood. Beautiful to behold, but their venomous sting makes them monstrous. A giant jellyfish attacks the submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, first published in 1869.

Jellyfish have survived for an estimated 500 million years, and they thrive in various conditions from tropical waters to the deepest seas. Their remarkable adaptability offers inspiration for human resilience and persistence. The “immortal jellyfish” possesses an extraordinary ability to revert its cells to their earliest form when stressed or injured, essentially beginning life anew. As a result, jellyfish have become a symbol for rebirth, transformation and new beginnings.

Realistic renderings of jellyfish were created by the German artist and naturalist, Ernst Haeckel, in the late 1800s, and his intricate images inspired generations of artists and scientists. Leopold Blaschka made meticulously detailed glass models of marine invertebrates for research and education. At his Dresden studio in the late 19th century, he worked with his son, Rudolf, to supply museums and academic institutions worldwide with more than 700 species, including jellyfish.

The diaphanous medium of glass is particularly suited to portraying translucent jellies, as seen in Josh Fradis’s installations for public exhibitions and private commissions. In his Onwards and Upwards design for a Florida apartment, multi-colored blown glass jellyfish drift up the wall with their long tentacles trailing behind them. Whether they are seen as graceful and ethereal or dangerous and otherworldly, jellyfish continue to inspire new forms of creativity.

See Josh’s blown glass jellyfish and other marine creatures in the Splash! exhibition at WMODA, which opens on February 21. Learn more about the Splash! Exhibition.

Read more about Josh’s Jellyfish
The Immortal Jellyfish

Watch Josh make one of his crashing waves