Photos, top to bottom, left to right: @kriswetterlund, @jtsmythe, @pearldick, @theripleylife, @catpuccino_kate, @bethlandin, Chien-Ju Lin via Twitter, @pjakobso, and @jessgiles2
One of the joys of managing social media channels for The Corning Museum of Glass is the opportunity to see how visitors are experiencing our spaces. Each visitor brings a unique perspective to our collections, activities, and demonstrations. The Museum’s latest exhibition, New Glass Now, clearly inspired creativity in staff and visitors alike. As we enter the last few weeks of the exhibition, I wanted to look back at nine of the very best New Glass Now social media posts from this year.
Sometimes the hardest thing about creating an exhibition at The Corning Museum of Glass is selecting which objects make the cut, so to speak. For the exhibition Journey to the Moon: How Glass Got Us There, we thought about including telescopes and some other objects from our collection that related to the Apollo 11 mission. One such object is this uniquely shaped souvenir tumbler.
Ultimately, we decided to focus on the glass in the Apollo spacecraft, glass in the astronauts’ space suits, and the glassy material found on the Moon. This commemorative tumbler simply didn’t fit into any of those categories, so we placed it in the Study Gallery and decided to feature it here, on the Museum’s blog instead.
This footed souvenir glass tumbler, from its unusual form to the images it displays, tells the story of the first manned lunar landing. Let’s take a closer look.
From 9am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday, December 7-8, The Studio will host its annual Holiday Open House and Glass Sale. Now in its 24th year, this event is a festive weekend packed with special holiday glassworking experiences and the much-anticipated Annual Studio Glass Sale, bringing together The Studio team, volunteers, and families from near and far. The celebration continues Museum-wide with live carolers and bands, crafts, and visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
A majority of the artwork available at the sale is made in Corning by local artists, with additional glass donated by artists-in-residence and established glassmakers from around the world. This is a great opportunity to begin holiday shopping for unique gifts at great prices. The sale is located along the hall from The Studio and can be found by following signs from The Studio’s main entrance.
Open until January 5, 2020, at The Corning Museum of Glass, the exhibitionNew Glass Now aims to teach visitors about the exciting field of contemporary glass. Through 100 works of art and design in glass, the exhibition is a snapshot of the wide-ranging themes, ideas, and techniques glass artists are engaging with today. A handful of these 100 artists carry this idea of capturing a moment in time one step further by evoking a specific time or place in their work. Whether the location is personally meaningful to the artist, or completely imaginary, many of the artworks in New Glass Now grapple with how to explore or capture a sense of place.
Miya Ando (United States, b. 1978), Kumo (Cloud) for Glass House (Shizen), Nature Series
In 2016, Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Caanan, Connecticut, commissioned internationally-renowned contemporary artist Miya Ando to develop an editioned sculpture to sell at their Design Shop. Ando, known for her watercolor-like paintings on sheets of aluminum, turned to the image of a fleeting cloud to capture the calm and contemplative environment of this icon of modern architecture. In her body of work, Ando often explores the Buddhist concepts of compassion, wisdom, and impermanence. The piece she created for the Glass House, titled Kumo (Cloud) for Glass House (Shizen), Nature Series, is a glass cube containing a laser-etched cloud. She photographed this cloud above the house during a visit. The piece contains a meditative environment, inviting the viewer to gaze inside.[1] Not only is Ando capturing the calm feeling of the Glass House in a portable object, but also the singular moment when the cloud floated overhead. Impermanence, another important concept to Buddhists, is a common thread that runs through Ando’s work. She uses transparency to embody this concept, most often using the medium of glass.[2]
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!
