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No Better Time to Edit Wikipedia

Whether you’re a researcher looking through citations for primary sources or someone who looked up one topic and fell into a black hole of reading articles all day, Wikipedia is a trusted source of information, and for good reason. As the tenth most visited web site in the world, Wikipedia helps you find details on almost anything you might want to research. However, only 10% of Wikipedia’s editors identify as female. With less representation, it’s harder to find well-written, detailed articles on women on the site. Art + Feminism, a non-profit dedicated to increasing the representation of women on Wikipedia, has hosted Wikipedia edit-a-thons worldwide since 2014 to try and reverse this trend. By training new and diverse editors, Art + Feminism aims to both increase and improve the pages about women in the arts.

The Corning Museum of Glass has taken part in this initiative since 2016 through our annual Wikipedia edit-a-thons at the Rakow Research Library. As the world’s foremost library dedicated to all things glass, we want to showcase women who work with glass in all its facets, from design to science to art. This year, we collaborated with our sister museum across the river, The Rockwell Museum, to edit and create Wikipedia articles related to women in The Rockwell’s collection as they acquire work only by women artists in 2020.

Connect with The Corning Museum of Glass from your Couch: A Guide to our Digital Offerings

Dear blog readers,  

We are in the midst of an unprecedented moment for museums and cultural institutions across the country. With widespread closures due to COVID-19, our most direct way to reach the public is no longer a viable option. We are all doing what we can to make sure the visitors who would normally walk through our doors know that they can still engage with us from the comfort of their homes. 

Currently, The Corning Museum of Glass is closed, and all scheduled classes, events, and programs are canceled until further notice. It’s vital that we do our part to promote social distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19. And while you’re doing your part to stick close to home, we know you’ll be in need of some educational entertainment.  

With our vast and myriad collection of online resources, we’ve got you covered. 

The Glass Pipe Community Flowers and Elevates

In my first blog about the acquisition of David Colton’s 2019 Rakow Commission piece “Corning: Untitled“, I touched on some of the genesis story of the glass pipe movement that has been torching across the United States and around the world for about 30 years. But there is a lot more to the story of this passionate community of borosilicate flameworkers, and it’s well worth documenting their development and innovation. That’s why, as the lead flameworker for The Corning Museum of Glass, I go out of my way to follow, participate with, and advocate for this movement.

Eric Goldschmidt teaching a flameworking class at The Studio.

The glass pipe community has helped to move flameworking forward at a greatly accelerated pace recently, and the fine art glass scene is finally paying proper attention. During the movement’s inception, there were some rebellious spirits around Eugene, OR, in the early 1990s who started the exploration with minimal formal training. Now, there are thousands of borosilicate flameworkers melting happily with their torches in their garages, basements, sheds, and even factory-style group studios all around the world. With this growth in craftspeople, we have also seen enormous growth in ancillary markets. Dozens of glass studios now feature pipe-making classes. Suppliers of colored borosilicate glasses have grown their palettes exponentially over the past 20 years to serve this market. A number of tool producers specific to flameworking have grown to serve the equipment needs of the artists.

The Snowflake Warrior Vase: What is snowflake glass?

Snowflake glass is a unique type of 19th-century Chinese glass that, as the name implies, invokes images of snow. The effect is created with varying amounts of white inclusions (small particles inside the glass) and small air bubbles in a colorless or translucent white base glass. In Chinese, this type of glass goes by multiple names which can be translated as follows: lotus root powder ground (藕粉地), snowstorm (霏雪地), and saliva ground (唾沫地). Some of the names refer to its common use as a background glass with a contrasting overlay color, often red, in cameo-carved objects.

Image of a tall white vase covered by a red overlay with depictions of scenes and Chinese soldiers on horseback. — Snowflake Warrior Vase, possibly Beijing, China, about 1825-1875. Gift of Benjamin D. Bernstein. 57.6.10.

The best-known example of this type of glass in our collection is the Snowflake Warrior Vase, a large cased and cameo-carved vessel that uses snowflake glass as the background layer with a thick red overlay (read more about the story told through its intricate carvings here). While the Warrior Vase is the largest and most impressive object made with snowflake glass in our collection, there are many smaller objects, such as snuff bottles, rings, bracelets, and buckles, which also use snowflake glass.

New Glass Review 43: An Outside Perspective on the Best of Contemporary Glass

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.

Amy Schwartz & William Gudenrath Honored with 2023 James Renwick Alliance for Craft Award

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.

CMoG Named One of the “7 Glass Wonders of the World”

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!