Hearts for the non-romantic

Pile of colored candy hearts

Valentine’s Day is in the air—whether we like it or not. Store shelves are stocked with candy hearts, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, and cards decorated with glittery red and pink hearts in various shapes and sizes. The Museum is offering visitors opportunities to make glass heart beads, heart pendants, and heart-shaped paperweights at The Studio.

We’ve posted on this blog about the symbol of the heart in pressed glass, but one of the first reference questions I fielded as a librarian at the Museum’s Rakow Research Library made me curious about anatomical hearts of glass: Did Leonardo da Vinci actually create a glass model to study how blood moved through the heart’s valves? When I started working at the Library, I wasn’t sure what kinds of questions to expect. This question, however, filled me with excitement and delight.

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New e-resource on Renaissance Venetian-style glass

The Corning Museum of Glass is launching a new electronic resource, The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian-Style Glassworking, by artist and scholar William Gudenrath. A follow-up to the Museum’s popular, first-ever scholarly e-resource, The Techniques of Renaissance Venetian Glassworking, which came out in 2016, this new resource presents 20 complete video reconstructions of the Venetian glassworking process.

Author William Gudenrath at work in The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass.

While the first publication detailed the golden age of Venetian glassworking and its rise to prominence in the manufacture of luxury glass, the new publication follows the Venetian maestros as they fled isolation and restrictive conditions in the lagoon to set up workshops in a variety of locations across Europe—taking their masterful skills and technical prowess with them.

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What to do when glass breaks

Shattered glass on black with shards of broken glass from a dropped destroyed tumbler

We’ve all been there. Whether it happened during an impromptu game of dodgeball in the living room or daydreamy dishwashing, there’s nothing like the sound of a favorite piece of glass shattering to spoil the fun. After the initial shock and before the owner of the glass finds out, there are options:

  1. Flee the scene.
  2. Blame the cat.
  3. Gather wits and as many shards as possible, separating the individual pieces so they don’t chip as they rub together. Then find a conservator.

If choosing option 3, there are a couple of ways to find a conservator. The American Institute for Conservation’s search tool is a great starting point. Local museums or galleries might also have referrals.

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The Studio announces 2019 Residencies

Today, The Studio announced the 2019 Artists-in-Residence recipients: twelve artists from around the world who will each spend one month at The Studio, researching and experimenting with new techniques to further their work. Additionally, two artists and two scholars have been selected for the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists and the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars, respectively. These recipients will spend up to three weeks in the Rakow Library, utilizing the vast holdings to inform their practice or area of research. Each resident will provide a public Lunchtime Lecture during their time at the Museum, describing their inspirations and work at The Studio and the Rakow Library.

2019 Artists-In-Residence at The Studio

Shinobu Kurosawa & Jim Butler
February 24-March 24; Public lecture on March 14

Shinobu Kurosawa, Happy Christmas.
Shinobu Kurosawa, Happy Christmas.

Translated literally, the Japanese word tonbodama means dragonfly ball. Since 2000, flameworker Shinobu Kurosawa has been making tonbodama beads that depict traditional Japanese landscape and nature scenes in glass.

In her March 2019 residency, Kurosawa will use The Studio’s resources to continue her research on tonbodama and expand her flameworking skills as she explores new possibilities in Japanese beadmaking.

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Featured News

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.

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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.

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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.

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The Maestro’s Farewell Tour: Corning Celebrates Lino Tagliapietra’s Impact on Glass

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!

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