Glass artist Ben Greene-Colonnese looks to nature for inspiration.

"Nature can do it better than I ever could," Greene-Colonnese said. "Half the time, I'm not even in my studio, I'm out in the woods. That's like my studio."

Greene-Colonnese, a Fayetteville native now living in Asheville, is one of 26 western North Carolina artists featured in the "Igneous Expressions" glass art exhibition at Methodist University.

The works, on display through Dec. 12 at the David McCune International Art Gallery, range from the abstract to the representational.

"There's a huge variety of things," said glass artist Kate Vogel, who helped organize the exhibit with Silvana Foti, the gallery's executive director. "Everyone has used glass for personal expression, and everyone uses it differently."

Vogel said the exhibit came about after Foti visited a "Glass in the Mountains" exhibition last year. Foti expressed interest in bringing a glass art exhibit to Fayetteville.

"She said, 'Do you think we can pull this off in a year?' and I said, 'I think we can,' " Vogel said.

There are more than 60 pieces in the Methodist show.

Vogel is represented by several pieces. She often works with her husband, John Littleton.

The couple's "Meditation in Pink" is a delicate piece depicting a pair of hands holding a pink flower.

Littleton's father, Harvey Littleton, pioneered the teaching of glass art at the university level, his son said. Some of the elder Littleton's works are featured, including a striking piece called "Blue Projectile Impact."

Other works are whimsical. David Chatt's "White Men in Suits" depicts men in business attire falling down a ladder into a purse full of money.

Mark Peiser's "Contrition" is a large, white, teardrop-shaped sculpture. Robert Levin's "Implement" uses glass, wood, rope and lead in a large sculpture that resembles an animal leg and hoof.

Katherine Bernstein crafted a self-portrait in cast crystal. Other works are in more everyday forms of plates and bowls.

"There's something in here that everyone can find a connection to," Vogel said.

Greene-Colonnese, 23, is a 2007 graduate of Pine Forest High School. He studied glasswork at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio.

The artist's work, which include cast glass, quartz, granite and sandstone, resembles natural shapes such as mountain peaks. The works have titles such as "Amber Tower" and "Green Stack."

Greene-Colonnese said he spends much of his time in the mountains around his Asheville studio, looking for materials for his sculptures.

"I think what attracted me to glass work was just how much you can do with it," he said. "There's so much you can do with the medium in so many different ways."