If someone asked, “Hey, remember the time John Cleese visited the Museum and blew glass?” you could be excused for doing a double-take and thinking “What, when?!” Well, strap in, because we’ve got a story for you, and the person who tells it best is William Gudenrath, Resident Advisor at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass.
Over the 26 years that Gudenrath has worked at The Studio, many famous faces have come and gone, but one has always stood out. You might know him as the brave but foolish Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or the incompetent hotelier Basil Fawlty, or simply as the legendary English actor and comedian, John Cleese.
William Gudenrath assisting John Cleese at the bench as they shape a glass flower.
In 1850, census takers recording information in Sandwich, Massachusetts, home to the famed Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, failed to record a single occupation for a female resident. The activities of the women of Sandwich were not yet deemed worthy of recording.
At the turn of the 20th century, the number of women entering the workforce began to rise. Growing alongside this trend was the demand for glass. Some women found a foothold in the thriving glass tableware industry, but, overall, they were limited in the tasks they performed. They were almost entirely kept out of glass blowing and pressing, coming into the production line when the glass left the furnace room. The wide range of jobs that women held were largely unskilled or low-skilled. Unwilling to accept women into lengthy apprenticeships, factories hired women to perform tasks that required minimal training. The women who worked at glass factories at this time were young, in their late teens and 20s, and tended to leave the workforce when they married, allowing only a handful of years to work.
Women painting wax ink onto lampshades before acid-etching. Steuben Glass, about 1910-1920. The Rakow Research Library, Corning Museum of Glass.
For all these reasons, and more, women’s stories were often left out of histories and documentation, making it difficult to learn about women of the past.
He sat casually in the corner of an office workspace, just waiting for his unlikely rise to fame. Born of sand and fire during artist Catherine Labonté’s live stream demo, this goofy-looking character could make you smile just by looking at him. And really, what more could he have hoped to accomplish than spreading simple happiness to an office filled with museum marketing employees? Then COVID-19 hit, and those employees packed up their desks and left to work from home for the foreseeable future, leaving Penguin Pierre in solitude—with no more faces to light up.
Then, when Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium shared videos of a penguin called Wellington waddling around their empty spaces; inspiration struck! Only, Pierre couldn’t waddle around the Museum… he’s made of glass. Except, could he?!
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving American women the right to vote. To commemorate this anniversary, The Rakow Research Library at The Corning Museum of Glass explores stories of women in the glass industry during this critical moment in history through this special blog series.
In 1900, city skylines were exploding upward. People were taking to the streets to march and organize for equal pay for equal work and a 48-hour workweek. In the first decades of the century, factories were mechanized, and the first World War wrenched able bodies from the workforce. Between 1900 and 1920 machines and cultural changes transformed American industry.
Front page story on women’s suffrage movement, Akron Beacon Journal, 1914. (Newspapers.com)
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.
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.
William (Bill) Gudenrath and Amy Schwartz with their award at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, May 6, 2023. Photo courtesy of the James Renwick Alliance.
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.
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.
Lino Tagliapietra in the Museum’s Amphitheater Hot Shop, May 13, 2022.
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!
