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The Pipemakers’ Day Has Finally Come

The Corning Museum of Glass has just acquired its first contemporary glass cannabis pipe. This is a big moment for many folks in the glass world, especially for us flameworkers. The piece, “Untitled, Corning” was created by David Colton for our New Glass Now exhibition. From my perspective as the lead flameworker at the Museum, this is a wonderful addition to our collections for many reasons. It is a beautiful sculptural object. It was made by a highly respected member of the pipemaking community. And the piece perfectly embodies many of the talking points I like to share on this unique facet of the glass scene.

David Colton United States, b. 1974 Untitled, Corning Museum United States, Westhampton, Massachusetts, 2018 Flameworked borosilicate glass, steel 30.5 x 66 x 23.5 cm — David Colton’s “Untitled, Corning” piece has just been acquired by The Corning Museum of Glass as the Leonard and Julia Rakow Commission for 2019.

While we see evidence of glassmakers creating pipes for well over 100 years, a unique movement has developed within the flameworking world over the past 30 years. In the early 1980s, flameworking artist Bob Snodgrass unsuspectingly began what would become a uniquely American addition to the world of glass art. Combining his interests in glassmaking and cannabis, Snodgrass began selling his color-changing glass pipes to friends and fellow cannabis enthusiasts. Bob was a big fan of the Grateful Dead and he followed their concert tours around the country with many other Deadheads (fans). Deadheads have been a very free-spirited, entrepreneurial bunch and created their own sort of craft and food markets at concerts. This was a great environment for Snodgrass to sell his work. It also proved to be an effective way to get these new products spread across the United States. In the late ’80s, he began to teach his craft to other dedicated students in and around Eugene, OR.

Under the Soot: cleaning smoke damaged glass

We clean our share of dirty glass in the Conservation Lab at The Corning Museum of Glass, but occasionally we get some unusual requests. Recently, one of our colleagues brought us objects from his personal glass collection that withstood a house fire. Soot on glass artwork and food stains on bakeware may not be the most natural connection to make; however, our conservator instincts recognized that in both cases organic materials had been heated to high temperatures, so we started by revisiting an old blog about cleaning Pyrex.

The smoke-damaged objects before cleaning

To tackle this new problem, we wondered if we could use lower concentrations of sodium hydroxide if we soaked the objects for a short period. The surface of each object and the smoke deposits varied, so we needed to work flexibly– what worked for one object did not necessarily work for all. For example, we used a higher concentration of sodium hydroxide to loosen soot on some objects with sensitive surfaces so that we could soak for a shorter time and avoid vigorous brushing.

We worked object by object, gradually increasing soaking time and/or concentration of sodium hydroxide until we could remove the soot by swabbing or brushing gently. The general idea behind our process is: soak, test, assess, then adjust and repeat as necessary.

New Exhibition Announcement: Special Exhibition on Glass in 18th-Century Britain Opening May 2020

The Museum’s spring exhibition, In Sparkling Company: Glass and Social Life in Britain During the 1700s, will open May 9, 2020. With exhibition design by Selldorf Architects, In Sparkling Company will present the glittering costume and jewelry, elaborate tableware, polished mirrors, and dazzling lighting devices that delighted the British elite, and helped define social rituals and cultural values of the period. Through a lens of glass, this exhibition will show visitors what it meant to be ‘modern’ in the 1700s, and what it cost.

Detail of a Mirror in wood frame, Probably England, London (glass), and Scotland (frame), carving attributed to William Mathie (fl. 1739–about 1761), based on designs by Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779), about 1760. H. 174 cm, W. 105.5 cm, D. 12.5 cm. The Corning Museum of Glass (2018.2.8).

The exhibition will also include a specially created virtual reality reconstruction of the remarkable and innovative spangled-glass drawing room completed in 1775 for Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1714-1786), and designed by Robert Adam (1728-1792), one of the leading architects and designers in Britain at the time. An original section of the room (which was dismantled in the 1870s), on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A Museum) in London, will be on view in North America for the first time as part of the exhibition. It will be accompanied by Adam’s original colored design drawings for the interior, on loan from the Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

Robert Adam (1728–1792), design for the end wall of the drawing room at Northumberland House, 1770–1773. Pen, pencil, and colored washes, including pink, verdigris, and Indian yellow on laid paper. H. 51.6 cm, W. 102.1 cm. Sir John Soane’s Museum, London (SM Adam, volume 39/7). Photo Credit: © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. Photography by Ardon Bar Hama.

Glass is back! New Glass: A Worldwide Survey in France

This post comes from Anna Millers, a curatorial intern at The Corning Museum of Glass in the fall of 2018. Anna worked with Susie Silbert, curator of modern and contemporary glass, and Colleen McFarland Rademaker, associate librarian, special collections, on the planning of this year’s two major exhibitions, New Glass Now and Now Glass Now / Context. Anna is now preparing for her curatorial competitive exam in France.

Paris. April 1st, 1982. A new era of French glass art was about to begin. And The Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts), on the north side of the river Seine, is where it all began.

Jack Lang, the French Minister of Culture, took confidentially to the floor of the Museum’s great nave to inaugurate the momentous new exhibition, New Glass. French contemporary glassmakers: art and industry.

The French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang (left), giving the opening speech on April 1st, 1982.
© Courtesy MAD Paris, France. With special acknowledgments to the Glass Department and the Photographic Service.

This show was the Parisian iteration of New Glass: A Worldwide Survey, which had left Corning, New York, and the United States to travel to the United Kingdom, France, and finally Japan. The original display devised by The Corning Museum of Glass in 1979 had only acquired two pieces of French glass, art works by Baccarat and Daum glassworks. However, once in France, the exhibition was further developed to include many of the forefathers of modern French glass, such as René Lalique, Emile Gallé, François Décorchemont, and Maurice Marinot – industrial glass manufacturers and contemporary glassmakers working in France.

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!