Behind the Glass

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Beautiful imperfections: Designing exhibition graphics by hand

Contemporary graphic design owes a great deal to the progressive artists of central Europe in the early 20th century. As Europe experienced turbulent times during this period, avant-garde artists in Austria between 1900 and 1937 were leading a creative renaissance, introducing design philosophies that set the standard for what is considered to be successful design today.

A sample of the Akzidenz Grotesk typeface.

When I studied graphic design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I was heavily influenced by the design developments of this era. As we began designing the graphics for Glass of the Architects, Vienna: 1900–1937, I looked back on what I studied many years ago. I learned about German Gestalt Principles and how to achieve a “unified whole” and I studied typefaces such as Akzidenz-Grotesque, introduced in Berlin in 1898. I also learned about the Vienna Secession, the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), and their ideal for achieving a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art); their consistent focus on unification, consistency, and creating a complete package can be seen as precursors to what is known as modern-day branding. Read more →

An immersive research opportunity for scholars

The David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists was introduced last year as an opportunity for the artists who have said, “I just really want to spend time in Corning doing research, being in the Library, meeting people, wandering in the collections.” This year, with the support of a donation from Daniel and Welmoet van Kammen, The Corning Museum of Glass proudly presents a similar opportunity for scholars: The David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars.

Rakow Research Library

This residency invites scholars to utilize the extensive holdings of the Rakow Research Library to inform their research about any period of glass. Named for and inspired by David Whitehouse, former Executive Director of The Corning Museum of Glass and a highly-regarded scholar, this opportunity honors his legacy by supporting researchers to make discoveries in the library and collections Whitehouse worked so diligently to build. Read more →

Looking closer at Roman cameo glass

This blog post comes from Karol Wight, president and executive director at The Corning Museum of Glass.

Karol Wight on the entrance steps of the American Academy in Rome.

Standing on the entrance steps of the
American Academy in Rome, our ‘home
away from home’ for the month of February.
Photo credit: Steven Wight.

In 2015, the Kress Foundation and the Association of Art Museum Directors, in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome, began to offer an Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy for a museum director (and member of AAMD) to spend one month in Rome pursuing a research topic. The fellowship was meant to enable a director to step away from their day-to-day duties and take a deep dive into scholarship. I was fortunate to be the second recipient of this Affiliated Fellowship, and spent this past February in Rome, undertaking my research project.

My project focused on the topic of ancient Roman cameo glass and how it was manufactured. There is ongoing debate in the world of ancient glass studies as to how the blanks for cameo carved objects were manufactured in antiquity. And while various modern experiments to recreate these types of pieces have been undertaken by a number of artists and scholars, there is no real consensus as to which techniques were more likely to have been used in antiquity. My current theory is that more than one technique may have been used, depending upon the object being manufactured (a flat object, an open vessel, or a closed vessel). Read more →

CMoG Nature Adventure: Spring Break 2018

In a year when winter seemed to last forever, spring break program planning proved to be quite a gamble. We committed to a nature-themed program in the autumn of 2017, not knowing whether the weather would cooperate. This year was much different than anything we’ve done before: citizen science, community partners, and nature walks, oh my! We decided to focus on nature for several reasons. First, nature has been a source of inspiration for glassmakers for thousands of years. Second, there are naturally occurring glasses – such as obsidian – on view in the galleries. And finally, glass instruments can be used to observe nature up close. Here are some of the ways we used glass to explore the natural world around our campus.

1. Magnifying Lenses

GlassBarge launches today at ONE°15 Brooklyn Marina in Brooklyn Bridge Park

GlassBarge launch in Brooklyn.

The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) today launches GlassBarge through May 28 at One°15 Brooklyn Marina in Brooklyn Bridge Park, kicking off a four-month tour celebrating the 150th anniversary of the canal journey to bring glassmaking to Corning. GlassBarge is offering free public glassblowing demonstrations aboard a 30’ x 80’ canal barge specially equipped with the Museum’s patented all-electric glassmaking equipment. Following its debut in New York City, GlassBarge will then travel north on the Hudson River, and westward along the Erie Canal, stopping in Yonkers, Kingston, the Albany, Syracuse, and Rochester areas, and Buffalo, among other cities.

The Studio Announces 2018 Residency Recipients

2018 Artists-In-Residence at The Studio

Anne Vibeke Mou
March 22-April 20; Public lecture April 12

Anne Vibeke Mou, Diamond Window

Originally from Denmark, artist and engraver Anne Vibeke Mou has been studying and working in the United Kingdom for almost 20 years. Her interests lie predominantly in the connections between glass and environment, object and place, and the medieval history of both regions has helped to shape her work in rich and revealing ways.

Mou practices a meticulous stippling process (engraving a surface with numerous small dots) using a handheld solitaire diamond tool. She is excited to access the Rakow Research Library’s resources to further her research into waldglas (forest glass) and historical sites of relevance. During her residency in March and April 2018, Mou will produce a series of delicate objects “containing traces of organic material from carefully chosen locations,” she says.

GlassBarge. Rendering by McLaren Engineering Group.

The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) today announced the receipt of $469,625 in grants through Empire State Development’s I LOVE NEW YORK program, the New York State Canal Corporation, and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. This generous funding will support the launch of GlassBarge in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the canal journey to bring glassmaking to Corning, New York, and will further CMoG’s participation in the statewide celebration of the Erie Canal Bicentennial.

In 1868, the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company relocated to Corning, via the New York Waterways, and evolved into the company that is today known as Corning Incorporated. In celebration of this pivotal journey, CMoG will launch GlassBarge—a canal barge equipped with CMoG’s patented all-electric glassmaking equipment—in Brooklyn in May 2018.