Virginia Wright (1932 – 2022)
Virginia (Jinny) Wright joined the Rakow Library staff in 1969 and during her 30+ years of service was a tireless advocate for library collections, facilities, staff, and services. She was one of the first Museum staff members onsite after the flood of 1972 submerged most of the library collections and was instrumental in applying new conservation practices to the salvage of the water-logged materials.
Mountmaking is the process of designing, fabricating, and installing the structures (called mounts, brackets, or armatures) that safely support collection objects and artifacts while they are on exhibit. I learned how to make mounts while working as an Exhibit Fabricator in New Mexico and I have now worked at The Corning Museum of Glass for two years.
For the Museum’s major exhibition this year, Past | Present: Expanding the Stories of Glass, the Curatorial team asked the Collections Management team for several mounts to be made. Objects may be mounted for many reasons and the mounts in this exhibition were to make certain objects stable and secure and to hold them in a preferred orientation.
In this blog, I will talk about some of the objects from Past | Present and the mounts that I made for them.
Read more →Will you be visiting The Corning Museum of Glass during Pride month this year? Then why not try our new, self-guided Pride Tour through the galleries to discover glass objects through an LGBTQIA+* lens. Some stops on the tour show the long history of queerness and the diversity of human sexuality across time, while other stops offer contemporary, Pride-inspired takes on historical objects. The tour was put together thanks to a joint effort by the Museum’s Curatorial and Education Departments.
Each of the objects on the tour has a unique story to tell. Follow the links to learn more about each object or pick up a gallery guide on your next visit and see if you can find them all yourself.
Read more →Summer is here, and for many, it’s time to hit the road and do some sightseeing. With the rising cost of gasoline and related environmental concerns, more and more people are beginning to move to electric vehicles, known as “EVs,” that are either fully electric or plug-in hybrids.
And, did you know, The Corning Museum of Glass has installed new charging stations in its Welcome Center parking lot to support these new vehicles? This makes the Museum a convenient place to stop for a break or as your final destination.
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Get excited and check the mail, because New Glass Review returns this month for its 43rd issue.
An annual exhibition-in-print, New Glass Review features 100 of the most timely, innovative projects in glass produced during the year. Artworks include sculptures, vessels, installations, and other works in glass by emerging and established artists.
A flagship publication of The Corning Museum of Glass since 1980, New Glass Review is a cyclical reintroduction into the world of contemporary glass and the artists who inhabit it; artists who continually push the boundaries of the material and the limits of their expression.
Following an open call for submissions that receives hundreds of entries every year from countries across the world, New Glass Review is curated by the Museum’s curator of postwar and contemporary glass and a changing panel of guest curators. While the search for the Museum’s next contemporary curator was underway this past summer, Samantha De Tillio was invited to lead the selection process. De Tillo was joined by Davin K. Ebanks, Kim Harty, and Kimberly Thomas.
Read more →The Studio’s Amy Schwartz and William (Bill) Gudenrath were honored on Saturday, May 6 in Washington DC with the James Renwick Alliance for Craft (JRA) Distinguished Craft Educator Award for excellence and innovation in education. The biennial award was celebrated at the JRA Spring Craft Weekend with a Symposium, Gala, and Awards Brunch. Recognized for their influence on future artists and significant contributions to American education in the craft field, Amy and Bill’s selection as honorees was the first time in the ceremony’s 20-year history that both makers and educators were honored at the same time.
Amy and Bill are the latest on a long list of distinguished honorees—the JRA Award has recognized some of the most influential craft artists in American history. This year, the other nominees included ceramic artist, social activist, and spoken word poet Roberto Lugo (the youngest artist to ever receive the Master of the Medium award); furniture maker Kristina Madsen; and curator, quilter, author, art historian, and aerospace engineer Carolyn Mazloomi.
Read more →Capping a truly momentous year for glass, The Corning Museum of Glass has achieved a new distinction: being named one of the “7 Glass Wonders of the World.”
The announcement was made during the closing festivities of the United Nations International Year of Glass (IYOG) 2022. The year officially concluded with a Conference and Ceremony at the University of Tokyo, Japan, on December 8-9, which was attended by our very own President and Executive Director Karol Wight. This event was followed by an official debriefing held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on December 14.
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Lino Tagliapietra may be retiring, but not before one final visit to The Corning Museum of Glass. Last weekend was a monumental one for Lino, the glassblowers and staff at the Museum, and all the guests who filled the Amphitheater Hot Shop to see the Maestro at work during what will be his final performance in Corning.
To celebrate Lino’s enduring legacy, we asked those lucky enough to know and work with him, to describe the impact he has made on the glass world. To no surprise, the response was fervent and unanimous: Lino’s impact is, and will always be, extraordinary!
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