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People making a difference: Dan and Welmoet van Kammen

Support for The Corning Museum of Glass originates from all corners of the globe. Originally from the Netherlands, Daniel and Welmoet van Kammen have been avid glass enthusiasts and admirers of the Museum for more than 20 years, becoming Ennion Society members in 2013. They now reside in Princeton, New Jersey.

Both Dan and Welmoet studied at the University of Utrecht, one of Holland’s oldest universities, before deciding to further their studies in the United States—Dan in psychiatry and Welmoet in art history. Even then, both were passionate collectors. What started as a fascination with historic maps, particularly of the Netherlands and other places they had visited, grew into a collection of prints of early 20th-century American wood engravings. Wood eventually led to glass when the van Kammens purchased an old Victorian house in Pittsburgh full of stained glass windows.

Daniel and Welmoet van Kammen

Their appreciation for glass developed when they became members of the Pittsburgh Historical Glass Club, meeting like-minded people, collectors, and glass historians. There the van Kammens became enamored with early American free- and mold-blown glass—a love affair that lingers to this day. Read more →

Zooming in on the Library Conservation Lab: Marginal illustrations and on-the-fly edits from the Whitefriars Collection

This post comes from Ilaria Camerini and Erin Fitterer, Rakow Library interns during the summer of 2018 working on the conservation of Library collections, including the Whitefriars stained glass cartoon collection. Read more about this project and the collection in previous posts.

Ilaria and Erin examine silver gelatin photographs.

This is the fourth year of the annual Whitefriars conservation project, a collaborative effort between West Lake Conservators and the Rakow Research Library. We — Ilaria Camerini and Erin Fitterer — are the lucky paper conservation interns for the summer, and we are excited to contribute to this project.

The Whitefriars stained glass cartoon collection consists of 1,800 rolls of cartoons, or preparatory drawings, for stained glass windows. Because of the way they were originally stored, each roll holds an unknown number of paper artworks. There are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 cartoons, working drawings, and photographs overall. Read more →

Bon voyage! Celebrating a decade at sea

There are many unforgettable sights in the world.

Looking up at glaciers in Alaska and the icy fjords of the Inside Passage, while the bow of your cruise ship gently ripples the calm, crystal-blue water all around you, is certainly one of them. The seaward approach to the fortified old-town of Dubrovnik on the sun-scorched Dalmatian coastline of Croatia is another. But watching molten glass take on a strange new form while the silhouette of New Zealand’s Southern Alps mountain range grows on the horizon, might be, hands down, the best sight of all.

Many of the gaffers at The Corning Museum of Glass have had the opportunity to experience these places and marvel at the beauty and diversity this planet has to offer, as they venture out from port with the Museum’s Blow Glass at Sea program with Celebrity Cruises.

For the past 10 years, the Museum has successfully partnered with the Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox, and Celebrity Eclipse to bring hot glass demonstrations and the wonder of glass innovation to people and places the world over. Read more →

Kung Fu at The Corning Museum of Glass

Here at The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG), it is common for Chinese visitors, after watching a Hot Glass Demonstration narrated in Mandarin, to give the “thumbs-up,” meaning “true Kung Fu” or “excellent Kung Fu.” One may wonder what the martial arts have to do with the art of glassmaking. In the Chinese-English dictionary [1], Kung Fu is defined as supreme skill from hard work.

功夫-gōng fu- skill; art; kung fu; labor; effort

It refers to excellence achieved through long practice in any endeavor. A person who demonstrates extraordinary skill can be said to have Kung Fu. For instance: a poet, artist, athlete, translator, or even a glassmaker can possess Kung Fu.

With more Chinese thumb-ups than our eyes can count, one wonders what kind of Kung Fu these Chinese tourists perceive that moves them to spread the good word about the Museum. Based on conversations with Chinese visitors, there are three things about a visit to CMoG that embody the Chinese perception of Kung Fu. Read more →

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!