“Glass is a big part of my life,” says Cory Dunnington, a glass artist from Phoenix, Arizona. She began making glass at the age of 19 when her mother taught her some stained glass techniques. Along with stained glass, Cory also makes fused and cast glass art, and was recently able to take Heike Brachlow’s kilnworking class, Shaping Color: From Raw Materials to Finished Sculpture at The Studio because she received a scholarship from the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund, which is supported by the purchase of glass artworks made by Hot Glass Show staff onboard Celebrity Cruises.
In this class, students learned how to create color in glass with metal oxides and were able to see the effects on the color if the oxide content was changed, even in small amounts. Color inspires much of Cory’s work, and this class gave her the unique opportunity to create the colors she wanted to work with. With this new skill, she says, “so many doors are opening.” Throughout the week-long class, each student made two colors and plaster-based molds, and melted their colored glass into a billet, or a brick of cast glass, which was then cut and polished to finalize the piece.
Cory and instructor Heike Brachlow discuss color at The Studio.
Cory found herself “so impressed with everything” at The Studio, from the top-notch facilities, to the professionalism of the staff, to the lifetime connections she was able to make with the Museum, the Rakow Research Library, photographers, and other artists. By networking with the community at The Studio, she has made supportive contacts that she can call at any time in the future with questions or ideas.
Primarily, she says the greatest benefit to her week at The Studio is, “I’m here, and I’m learning,” and she could not be more grateful for the opportunity afforded to her through the Celebrity scholarship to expand her knowledge of glass. “The experience has been totally life changing and inspirational.”
Michael Costa, Cory Dunnington and Jennifer Betz in Heike Brachlow’s Shaping Color class at The Studio.
Learn more about the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund, and others.