Behind the Glass

Home

Bringing the heat to St. Pete

At the end of March, a team of glassmakers from The Corning Museum of Glass took the Mobile Hot Shop to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the annual Glass Art Society Conference. This three-day conference attracts between 1,000 and 2,000 glass artists and takes place in a different city every year. The Museum will often bring a mobile glass shop as an additional venue for artists invited to demonstrate at the conference.

The CMoG Mobile Hot Shop set up in front of the Imagine Museum.

Of course, for a city to host a GAS conference, they must have a vibrant glass scene and St. Pete has certainly become a hot spot for contemporary glass. I was amazed by how much there was to see at venues across the town. Glass studios like Zen Glass Studio, Duncan McClellan Gallery, and the Morean Arts Center have set the stage for the burgeoning popularity of glass here by creating spaces that support local collectors and generate regional interest in the material.

April is a special time at The Corning Museum of Glass, and one of my favorites. Not just because the flowers are beginning to bloom and the leaves beginning to return, but because it is the celebration of National Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 7 through 13. This year we appreciate and recognize our volunteers by demonstrating how they contribute to our mission: To inspire people to see glass in a new light. Thank you to our docent Karen Biesanz for collecting the volunteer voices represented in this blog post, and to all of our volunteers and docents for continuing to delight and surprise us and our Museum guests.

— Jessica Trump, Volunteer & Internship Program Supervisor

The Corning Museum of Glass hopes our visitors have an outstanding experience. Our friendly volunteers help guests feel comfortable as they connect with the Museum’s displays on the science, history, and art of glassmaking through the centuries.

Here are just a few of the suggestions that volunteers like to mention to visitors:

1. Don’t miss the Hot Glass Demonstrations. Many volunteers strongly urge our guests to attend a glassblowing show to watch a blown-glass design materialize in 25 minutes.

On Sunday, March 3, 2019, the energy in the flameshop at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass was buzzing as many experienced beadmakers gathered to participate in a beadmaking marathon in support of a wonderful program called Beads of Courage. Beads of Courage is an organization that distributes handmade glass beads to hospitals to be given to children in recognition of milestones in their treatment for severe or chronic illnesses.

Beadmakers participating in Beads of Courage at The Studio.

To make this event possible, The Studio opened its flameshop and all 10 torches, and provided all of the tools and materials to be used. Almost 20 beadmakers, both staff and volunteers, came together and got to work. In just eight short hours, they created hundreds of beautiful and unique glass beads, which will all be donated to Beads of Courage. Some participating artists even brought previously made beads for donation as well.

Japanese artist and educator Rui Sasaki was selected to create the Museum’s 33rd Rakow Commission, which will be featured as the 100th work in New Glass Now. Sasaki will visit CMoG to deliver a Behind the Glass lecture about her work on March 28 at 6:30 p.m., after which, her work will be unveiled.

“The Rakow Commission is designed to assist emerging artists in pushing their practice and Rui’s piece, Liquid Sunshine/I am a Pluviophile is an excellent example of the process at work, said Susie Silbert, curator of modern and contemporary glass at The Corning Museum of Glass. “I’m incredibly impressed by her ambitious approach to material and concept, which she has furthered to great effect in this piece.”

The Corning Museum of Glass Partners on Glass Competition Show Blown Away

The Corning Museum of Glass is thrilled to share news of an exciting collaboration on the forthcoming Netflix series, Blown Away, which will bring the art and beauty of glassblowing to television screens around the world. A visually compelling process often described as “mesmerizing” and “captivating,” glassblowing has never been the subject of any major TV programming—until now.

The art glass competition show created by Marblemedia, an award-winning entertainment company based in Toronto, Canada, Blown Away features a group of 10 highly skilled glassmakers from North America creating beautiful works of art that are assessed by a panel of expert judges. One artist is eliminated each episode until a winner is announced in the tenth and final episode. A co-production with Blue Ant Media of Toronto, Blown Away will air on the Makeful channel in Canada before coming to the Netflix platform worldwide later this year.

Today, The Studio announced the 2019 Artists-in-Residence recipients: twelve artists from around the world who will each spend one month at The Studio, researching and experimenting with new techniques to further their work. Additionally, two artists and two scholars have been selected for the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists and the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars, respectively. These recipients will spend up to three weeks in the Rakow Library, utilizing the vast holdings to inform their practice or area of research. Each resident will provide a public Lunchtime Lecture during their time at the Museum, describing their inspirations and work at The Studio and the Rakow Library.

2019 Artists-In-Residence at The Studio

Shinobu Kurosawa & Jim Butler
February 24-March 24; Public lecture on March 14

Translated literally, the Japanese word tonbodama means dragonfly ball. Since 2000, flameworker Shinobu Kurosawa has been making tonbodama beads that depict traditional Japanese landscape and nature scenes in glass.

In her March 2019 residency, Kurosawa will use The Studio’s resources to continue her research on tonbodama and expand her flameworking skills as she explores new possibilities in Japanese beadmaking.

The Corning Museum of Glass Surveys Global Contemporary Glass in Special Exhibition Opening in May 2019

Today The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) announced that 100 artists—representing 32 nationalities and working in 25 countries—have been selected to exhibit in New Glass Now, a global survey of contemporary glass and the first exhibition of its kind organized by the Museum in 40 years. The show, which will be on view from May 12, 2019, through January 5, 2020, will include works ranging from large-scale installations and delicate miniatures to video and experiments in glass chemistry, all of which demonstrate the vitality and versatility of this dynamic material.

Sarah Briland
United States, b. 1980
Problematica (Foam Rock)
United States, Richmond, Virginia, 2016
Foam, Aqua Resin, glass microspheres, steel, concrete stand
With stand: 96.5 x 52 x 45.7 cm
Photo: Terry Brown

In spring 2018, CMoG welcomed submissions of new works, made between 2015 and 2018 in which glass plays a fundamental role, for consideration by a panel comprising Susie J. Silbert, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass at CMoG, and three guest curators, including: Aric Chen, curator-at-large, M+ museum, Hong Kong; Susanne Jøker Johnsen, artist and head of exhibitions at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation, Denmark; and American artist Beth Lipman. More than 1,400 artists, designers and architects working in 52 countries—from Argentina, Australia, Indonesia and Japan to the United States, United Kingdom, and beyond—submitted works, which draw upon flameworking, glassblowing, casting, neon, carving, and kilnworking techniques, among others. Read more →

Bringing the heat to St. Pete

Attention to detail: Tips for visitors from volunteers

Beadmaking marathon

33rd Rakow Commission is unveiled this week; Artist reminds us to look for the sunshine

Featured News

The Corning Museum of Glass Partners on Glass Competition Show Blown Away

The Studio announces 2019 Residencies

The Corning Museum of Glass Surveys Global Contemporary Glass in Special Exhibition Opening in May 2019