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Library Acquires “Phenomenal Resource” of Performance Art Records

The Rakow Research Library is delighted to announce our first acquisition of performance art documentation in contemporary glass, with the addition of the B Team Records. In 2018, B Team founder Zesty Meyers gave his collected materials on the B Team to the Rakow Research Library, which included historical information about the team, notebooks showing the team’s development and performance ideas, promotional materials, tour materials, photographic materials, and videos. The collection is available for research, and videos have recently been digitized and uploaded to The Corning Museum of Glass YouTube channel. The donation also included several glass pieces, which are housed in the Museum’s collection.

Evan Snyderman, Zesty Meyers, and Thor Bueno performing Fear Jar, Spontaneous Combustion, 1996

The B Team was a groundbreaking, ever-evolving group of performance artists working with blown glass, who delighted in an unconventional and experimental approach to hot glass, and who had a desire to share their ideas with others. Team members challenged preconceived ideas on everything from the definition of art and glass to gender roles.

Blown Away Contestants Talk About Their Time on the Hot New Netflix Show

We’ve been binge watching Blown Away on Netflix, and we hope you have, too. Has the fiery cast of amazing glassblowers inspired you to see glass in a new light?

We recently asked the contestants what being involved with Blown Away has meant to them. They also weighed in on the potential impact of broader global awareness of this material they all love, and what it means for artists who make a living working in glass.

Photo Credit: David Leyes, courtesy of marblemedia

**What has being involved with Blown Away meant to you?**

“I was ready for an adventure related to my work because I have been shifting away from design-oriented projects toward art endeavors. I knew that working on Blown Away would be demanding in unpredictable ways and was curious where that would take me creatively. I wanted to innovate new ideas through the challenges.” Deborah Czeresko – New York City, New York

Blown Away Launches on Netflix Today!

Glass is about to get its big break! Today Netflix launches Blown Away, the first-ever competition show featuring glass in the starring role. The groundbreaking 10-episode series will bring the art of glassblowing to millions of people across the world, as the competition pushes the contestants to creative extremes in search of the “Best in Blow.”

The show follows a group of 10 highly skilled glassmakers from North America who have a limited time to fabricate beautiful works of art that are assessed by a panel of expert judges. One artist is eliminated in each 30-minute episode until a winner is announced in the tenth and final episode.

Donor Profile: Dorothy Saxe

Since the early 1980s, Dorothy Saxe and her late husband, George, have been enthusiastic art collectors. Their comprehensive collection combines many different materials, compositions, and nationalities, but Dorothy holds a special place in her heart—and home—for glass.

Dorothy Saxe with Susie Silbert, curator of modern and contemporary glass.

“We are very lucky to live with all these treasures,” Dorothy said, having collected and supported artists such as Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, William Morris, Dale Chihuly, and Toots Zynsky among others, from a very early stage.

Originally from Michigan City, Indiana, on the southern shores of Lake Michigan, Dorothy was interested in art at a very early age and attended art history classes at nearby Northwestern University.

“This was lovely,” she recalls, “instead of looking at slides of masterworks, I could go into Chicago to the Art Institute and see all the masterworks in person!”

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!