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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.

From 363 to 2023: Bringing an Ancient Glass Workshop to Life in New Exhibition ‘Dig Deeper’

How was glass made in antiquity?

This is the question that drove a team from The Corning Museum of Glass and the University of Missouri to undertake the first focused scientific excavation of a Roman-period glass workshop at the site of Jalame el-Asafna in the 1960s. The resulting Jalame excavations, and what we have learned since are now the focus of the special exhibition, Dig Deeper: Discovering an Ancient Glass Workshop, which opened to the public on May 13, 2023, and will close on January 7, 2024.

We especially developed Dig Deeper to be an intergenerational space that can be enjoyed by visitors of all ages, with opportunities to touch ancient glass and glassmaking tools, peer at glass under a microscope, create your own archaeological story, explore the science of glass composition, and consider the ethics of museum collection of ancient objects.

Glassworks: A Reimagining of the Blaschkas, a Family’s Fragile Legacy, and the Unbreakable Bonds that Define Us

This week’s blog post comes to us from guest contributor Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, a Brooklyn-based author of fiction and non-fiction. Wolfgang-Smith’s debut novel, Glassworks, was published today, May 16, 2023, by Bloomsbury.

Glassworks, nominated a Buzziest Debut Novel of 2023 by Goodreads, tells a story that followers of The Corning Museum of Glass may well be familiar with, a story of passion and glass. Inspired by the intricate glass models of flowers and marine invertebrates created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka over 150 years ago, Glassworks is a sumptuously told tale of familial connections and finding one’s place in the world.

Told like four novellas, each exploring the trials and tribulations of a new generation of a family bonded by blood or companionship, and how their ties to the past both hold them back and set them free. Through each section creeps a fragile glass thread, sometimes revealed explicitly, as in part one where the homage to the Blaschkas is forefront, but also just as frequently delicately protected close to the chest like a small glass bee pendant lost and found again.

Wolfgang-Smith discusses her introduction to the Blaschkas right here in Corning and how her epic saga blossomed from there like a glass bubble inflated by the breath of her imagination. Pick up your copy of Glassworks and find out what all the buzz is about.

The End of an Era: Celebrating the legacy of Amo and Jamie Houghton

We’ve all heard it before: Corning is synonymous with glass. Between the Museum exhibiting the history and present of glass, and Corning Incorporated creating the future with glass, it’s not a hard case to make. But there’s another name that, over the course of 155 years, has become synonymous with Corning: Houghton.

As the leaders of Brooklyn Flint Glass Works—later Corning Glass Works, then Corning Incorporated—the Houghton family has been an integral part of the Corning community since they moved their glass company to the city in 1868. Five generations of Houghtons led Corning Incorporated, building up not just a company, but an entire community. Now, with the recent passing of James (Jamie) R. Houghton and the memorial service of Amory (Amo) Houghton Jr, we’re looking back on their impact and legacy, on the Museum and on the city of Corning.

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

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!

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

From 363 to 2023: Bringing an Ancient Glass Workshop to Life in New Exhibition ‘Dig Deeper’

Glassworks: A Reimagining of the Blaschkas, a Family’s Fragile Legacy, and the Unbreakable Bonds that Define Us

The End of an Era: Celebrating the legacy of Amo and Jamie Houghton

Featured News

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

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

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

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