GlassLab on Governors Island: Glass buoys, flaming found objects, Tower of Oh-Oh, and more

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Stephanie Miller

The weather was unusually mild, with an amazing breeze and lots of sunshine. New Yorkers, inspired by the weather, made their way to Governors Island to watch as designers Peter Buchanan-Smith, Inna Alesina, and Paul Sahre worked with our glassmakers to realize their sketches in glass.

Bouy in the reheating furnace

Giant glass buoys inspired by eyes, flaming molds filled with found objects, and funky typography entertained an enraptured audience. Through most of the weekend, there was standing room only!

Peter Buchanan-Smith testing the glass buoy for buoyancy

Designer Peter Buchanan-Smith tests the glass buoy for buoyancy

Peter Buchanan-Smith was determined to create a giant glass buoy that he could actually float in the water. The buoy resembles an eye, and the rope that tethers it to the bottom represents an optic nerve. Our gaffers experimented with shape, color, size, and technique. As with all great experiments sometimes it takes a few attempts to get the right piece. Everyone held their breath, and stared in amazement as glassmaker Chris Rochelle cracked off a successful buoy Sunday afternoon.

Designer Inna Alesina with her erector set prototype

Inna Alesina prepared a special plaster mold filled with found objects from her childhood and life in the Ukraine. As the glass gob was dropped into the mold, the flames engulfed the wooden pieces, and left a fossilized imprint behind. Alesina was also interested in creating the joints of an erector set, with the hope of using paper tubing to combine several into a large-scale piece.

Hot glass blown into the found objects mold

Designer Paul Sahre created a font that found national recognition. Many of you might remember the fun bubbly letters of Dr. Scholl’s “Gellin’” inserts. This funky font was the inspiration for Sahre’s Tower of Oh-Oh, a precarious stack of “o” and “h” letters in a color I can only describe as Kryptonite green.

Designer Paul Sahre and the "O" from his Tower of Oh-Oh

Gaffer Adam Holtzinger with the letter "H"

Read more about the designer’s concepts and see photos from past Governors Island GlassLab design sessions at http://www.cmog.org/glasslab/designers.

Don’t miss GlassLab on Governors Island for the final design sessions this weekend with Abbott Miller, David Weeks, and Georgie Stout!

Back to the Basics: Celebrity Cruise Scholarship recipient Lauren Hunt

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Lindsay Woodruff

Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship recipient Lauren Hunt moved to Corning in 2011 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she studied glass under Jack Wax and Emilio Santini. She has worked in the Make Your Own Glass workshop at The Studio and is currently auditioning with the Hot Glass Show for the chance to blow glass aboard a Celebrity cruise ship.

The scholarship she received this summer allowed her to take Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz’s class, A Step-by-Step Approach, a class which revisited basic shapes and designs. The purpose of this class was for students to touch up the fundamental skills that may have been lost along the way as they have progressed further into their glassmaking. In the week-long class, students focused on the size of their gathers, working with thinner pieces of glass, and using heat and gravity to their advantage to make basic forms such as cylinders, cones, and bowls. “This is bringing me back to all my basic skills, and it’s teaching me how to relieve all my bad habits and really watch the glass a little closer,” says Lauren, who found this class beneficial after working with glass for about four years.

Drawn to functional forms more than abstract designs, and inspired by makers such as Boyd and The Studio’s own resident artist Bill Gudenrath, Lauren gets motivation from her surroundings at The Studio. The skill of these masters is “what you strive for,” and Lauren listed skill building among her main goals for taking the class. “I hope I have a better understanding of how to make these basic forms. I hope I can utilize it in my own time whenever I want to start my own work. I can always reference back to Boyd’s class and always have my notes with me.”

Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship recipient Lauren Hunt

Boyd Sugiki working with Lauren Hunt at The Studio

Access to the Museum is one of the greatest benefits of taking a class at The Studio. The Museum houses the largest comprehensive glass collection in the world, giving students the opportunity to go through the history of glassmaking. “You can get inspired all over again and take it back into The Studio with you,” says Lauren. Another benefit to taking Studio classes is that students have the opportunity to watch the other classes in session during the week, providing a glimpse of other techniques and designs.

The assistance of the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship has allowed Lauren to allocate her personal resources for the tools necessary for the class, and has also allowed her the means to be able to take another class later in the summer at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. “The Studio has given me a lot of opportunities,” from giving her the means to continue her glass education outside of college to the chance to build relationships with artists and experts in glass.

Learn more about the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund, and others.

Construction wraps up on the Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage

Posted on July 24, 2012 by John Cowden

Today’s post comes from John Cowden, a retired supervisor and narrator of the Hot Glass Show. John works with special projects at the Museum, and is supporting the new Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage construction project. John will be reporting on the progress of the project on an ongoing basis.

Construction on the new Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage is making good progress. The stage is sufficiently completed to accept the new melting equipment. The equipment was built in Seattle, WA by Spiral Arts and shipped to Corning. The owner of Spiral Arts, Fred Metz, came to Corning to make some final adjustments and troubleshoot the installation.

Fred Metz

The furnace was delivered to the Museum at night.

Working in the Museum while it remains open complicates the construction process for the contractors. Having construction on-site complicates operations for the Museum. The Museum has restricted some construction processes to after-hours. For example, most construction deliveries are scheduled outside Museum hours. Any paint which produces odors is applied after hours. Also restricted are noise making and dust producing operations. As a result, there are people working on the new Hot Glass Show Innovations Stage twenty-four hours a day. Some people are working five 8-hour days a week. Some are working four 10-hour days a week. Some are working four 12-hour days a week. A few are working five 12-hour days a week.

The new equipment installed. From left to right across the back of the stage: the furnace (with Fred inside), the iron warmer and color box, the annealer and the gloryhole. All of the equipment is electric.

There are a lot of signs that the project is coming to the end. The scaffolding which was erected to work on the ceiling has been dismantled and the ceiling is nearly complete. There is a painter doing touch up which you can see in the foreground of the picture of the equipment. The cooling equipment has been installed under the stage. The walls are finished. You can see the new paneling behind the exhaust vents.

The furnace was turned on last night and it is performing very well. The initial temperature rise is slow to get the moisture out safely (perhaps as slowly as 15° F/hour). Any initial firing of a glass furnace produces odors. The first trial of the ventilation system removed all of the initial firing odors. It will soon be time to add the glass to the furnace.

The electricians are making a few last minute adjustments.

The carpet is being installed and all of the brackets for the seating are installed.

Join us in celebrating the opening of the Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage Thursday, July 26 at 10am. Drop by (no reservations necessary) and watch as a procession of glassmakers make their way through the Museum (with much fanfare!) and transfer molten glass to the new furnaces using a hot glass torch.

Docent Musings By Tom Hart

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Corning Museum of Glass

Today’s post is by Museum docent Tom Hart

In 1984, my employer, a regional bank, transferred me to Corning. To introduce me to the community, the bank arranged a day-long series of events, including a guided tour at the Museum. I had not been in the Museum since 1952! The docent absolutely fascinated me—she had so much knowledge and was so charismatic. At the time I thought I might enjoy giving tours but soon forgot about it. Flash forward to March 2001. I had been retired three months, had gotten all the long-neglected chores done, and was looking out at my front yard that was covered in about two feet of snow. All but one of the neighbors were either working or vacationing. At that moment I remembered my 1984 Museum tour and had my “aha” moment. I then called the Museum to offer my services.

Docent Tom Hart discusses his favorite object, George Woodall's Moorish Bathers

I started giving tours in January 2002, about three weeks after completing the docent training program.

When I first expressed interest in becoming a docent (we were then called “guides”) I had a vague notion that sand had something to do with glassmaking. Little did I know how much I had to learn! I quickly became fascinated with the history of glass and how the material has affected and enhanced civilizations from ancient Mesopotamia to modern optical fiber and the Space Shuttle windows. At the end of docent training I had the opportunity to blow a Christmas ornament—mine weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is a really gross color of green (‘my bad’), but it is truly “one of a kind.”

I have no recollection of my first tour except that I was nervous and really relieved to get it over with. The second tour was a church group of mixed ages—they sent me a thank you note, so I had the sense that I must have done something right. The third tour was kindergarteners—the last time I had dealt with this age group they were my classmates and Harry Truman was President! The docent program manager was a bit nervous about how this tour would go, so she joined me about 30 minutes into the tour. The kids were grinning and were really animated. I said, “I guess it’s working!”

Smallpox Virus and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), Luke Jerram (British, b. 1974), 2010.

As a retired person living in rural Upstate New York, I cannot believe the rich experiences that “docenting” has given me. I have escorted high school students from Finland, business executives from Korea, a Japanese professor from the Tsunami-ravaged area of Japan, and a family from Israel. Most recently I hosted a group of virologists who were meeting at nearby Cornell University. Yikes, what was I going to do with these folks? I took them to the 2010 Rakow Commission, Smallpox Virus and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), and they were able to identify the glass models of the viruses blown-up one million times larger without reading the label. Wow! All of this sounds exotic and it really is, but most of the tours involve our neighbors and their children. The regional schools see the Museum as a wonderful field trip.

I became so interested in the nature of glass that, in the early years, I took a ten-week glassblowing class at The Studio. I will never be a good glassblower—I did produce some really unique paperweights, cream and sugars that are grossly different in size, and some really heavy drinking glasses—but I learned about how glassmaking feels.

I am really hooked!

Interested in becoming a Docent? Docents (volunteer guides) provide valuable service to the Museum and to the wider community by volunteering their time to give tours to adults, families and school groups. They engage, educate and inspire visitors from around the world as they share their knowledge of 35 centuries of glass art, history and science.

The application deadline for the 2012-2013 New Docent Training class is September 10, 2012. For information, please contact Kala Karden at 607.438.5286 or volunteers@cmog.org.

GlassLab on Governors Island: A trailer hitch, fusing wood and glass, geometric shapes and more

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Mandy Kritzeck

It was a busy weekend at GlassLab on Governors Island, with design sessions featuring Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller, Chris and Dominic Leong, Leon Ransmeier, Jon Otis, and Judy Smilow.

Unfortunately, we can’t say that the third weekend of GlassLab on Governors Island went off without a hitch! Designers Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller came to GlassLab with a new idea for a common trailer ball hitch. The concept was to take something strong and industrial and make it out of glass, a material often perceived to be fragile.

Designers Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller

The first section of the hitch was made on Saturday, and the two came prepared with a wooden mold shaped with the ball to make the second half of the hitch on Sunday.

Keetra Dean Dixon and JK Keller make a glass trailer ball hitch at GlassLab

Chris and Dominic Leong returned for a second GlassLab design session, adding color to their design concepts. In their first GlassLab design session, Chris and Dominic explored geometric shapes in glass vessels.

Chris and Dominic Leong with geometric glass shapes

Leon Ransmeier continued his series of glass pitchers.

Leon Ransmeier continued his series of glass pitchers at GlassLab on Governors Island

Designer Jon Otis’ concept was a fusion of wood and glass. The glassblowers pushed hot glass into wooden blocks made by Jon, resulting in unique interactions.

Glass is blown into a wooden mold for Jon Otis' design concept

Hot glass and combustible materials do not often mix well together, and Jon was open to the variety of forms that could result from the fusing of burning wood and molten glass. Judy Smilow’s design concept incorporated copper wire frames wrapped around hot glass, in the form of bowls. Read more about the designer’s concepts and see photos from past Governors Island GlassLab design sessions at http://www.cmog.org/glasslab/designers.

See the full GlassLab on Governors Island schedule for upcoming designer sessions with Peter Buchanan-Smith, Inna Alesina, Paul Sahre, Abbott Miller, David Weeks, and Georgie Stout.

Solving an ancient puzzle in the Conservation Lab

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Astrid van Giffen

This summer the Conservation Lab is filled with fragments, even more than there usually are. All these fragments of Islamic lustre and stained glass don’t belong to one object. Most of them were once part of the extensive fragment collection of Ray Smith and came into the Museum’s collection in two batches in 1951 and 1968.

Islamic lustre and stained glass fragments in the conservation lab

Although fragments aren’t as visually pleasing as whole or nearly whole objects, they still provide a lot of information about glassmaking techniques. It is also a lot easier to take a sample for analysis from a fragment than from a complete object.

Individual fragments in baggies waiting to be sorted

In order to really study fragments like these, we need to be able to keep track of them just like any other object. Unfortunately, the Museum’s record keeping wasn’t always as comprehensive as it is now and many of these fragments were never formally accessioned. As you can imagine, accessioning and cataloguing hundreds of fragments is a big job. We’re trying to reduce that number by looking for joining fragments. This might sound like looking for a needle in a haystack, and in some ways it is, but laying out all the fragments in one place and arranging them according to colors and patterns makes it a little easier.

More fragments

We have found several joins already!

fragments waiting to be joined

After we get done with all the lustre and stained fragments, we get to start the whole process again with our enameled Islamic fragments.

Enameled Islamic fragments waiting for the next round of join finding

GlassLab on Governors Island: Typography in glass, more drunken vessels and variations on the common glass pitcher

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Mandy Kritzeck

Things started heating up at the second weekend of GlassLab on Governors Island, with designers Helen Lee, James Victore, Leon Ransmeier, and Mike Perry forming their ideas in 2300 degree hot glass, despite the near triple digit temperatures in New York City.

Helen Lee works on a glass vessel at GlassLab on Governors Island

Designer Helen Lee works on her design for a vessel with typographical character form with gaffer Chris Rochelle

Designer and glassblower Helen Lee’s design session was a blend of glass and typography. Using the shape of parentheses and brackets as a starting point, Helen and the GlassLab team formed glass vessels that if cut in half, would show the form of the 2D characters.

Helen Lee sketches her design

Helen’s unique ideas for approaching the material included creating vessels with cursive script forms. On Saturday, the glassmakers created a clear glass vessel with cursive forms spelling out the word “man.” Two additional vessels in Sunday’s follow up session, “pen” and “ship,” completing the three-part “penmanship” series in glass.

James Victore with a drunken vessel made at GlassLab on Governors Island

James Victore with one of his drunken vessels

James Victore returned to GlassLab to continue working on his design for drunken vessels. James’ design concept pushed what he considered to be a “perfect” vessel. Playing with form, including a vase that he noted could resemble a sitting gopher, James took the opportunity to experiment and “seek the organic, imperfect, and dangerous in glass.”

Leon Ransmeier's design for a pitcher is blown into a plaster mold

Leon Ransmeier watches the gaffers blow hot glass into a plaster mold for his pitcher design

Leon Ransmeier came to GlassLab prepared and ready to make a series of nine glass pitchers using a plaster mold. For this series, he wanted to investigate the various ways of interacting with a common object, attaching the handle a different way on each clear glass pitcher.

Eric Meek, Adam Holtzinger and Chris Rochelle attach a handle to designer Leon Ransmeier's pitcher design

After some trial and error, the glassmakers abandoned the mold in favor of shaping the hot glass by hand. Leon took it all in stride and was amazed at the process. “It’s about experimentation, not production,” he said.

Mike Perry continued to explore color in glass on Sunday, designing a vessel with two halves of bright green and yellow.

Designer Mike Perry documents Eric Meek working on his glass design at GlassLab

Designer Mike Perry snaps a photo of his colorful vessel design

See the full GlassLab on Governors Island schedule for upcoming designer sessions with Peter Buchanan-Smith, Inna Alesina, Paul Sahre, Abbott Miller, David Weeks, and Georgie Stout.

Shaping color in the kiln: Celebrity Cruise Scholarship recipient Cory Dunnington at The Studio

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Lindsay Woodruff

“Glass is a big part of my life,” says Cory Dunnington, a glass artist from Phoenix, Arizona. She began making glass at the age of 19 when her mother taught her some stained glass techniques. Along with stained glass, Cory also makes fused and cast glass art, and was recently able to take Heike Brachlow’s kilnworking class, Shaping Color: From Raw Materials to Finished Sculpture at The Studio because she received a scholarship from the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund, which is supported by the purchase of glass artworks made by Hot Glass Show staff onboard Celebrity Cruises.

In this class, students learned how to create color in glass with metal oxides and were able to see the effects on the color if the oxide content was changed, even in small amounts. Color inspires much of Cory’s work, and this class gave her the unique opportunity to create the colors she wanted to work with. With this new skill, she says, “so many doors are opening.” Throughout the week-long class, each student made two colors and plaster-based molds, and melted their colored glass into a billet, or a brick of cast glass, which was then cut and polished to finalize the piece.

Cory Dunnington and Heike Brachlow at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass

Cory and instructor Heike Brachlow discuss color at The Studio.

Cory found herself “so impressed with everything” at The Studio, from the top-notch facilities, to the professionalism of the staff, to the lifetime connections she was able to make with the Museum, the Rakow Research Library, photographers, and other artists. By networking with the community at The Studio, she has made supportive contacts that she can call at any time in the future with questions or ideas.

Primarily, she says the greatest benefit to her week at The Studio is, “I’m here, and I’m learning,” and she could not be more grateful for the opportunity afforded to her through the Celebrity scholarship to expand her knowledge of glass. “The experience has been totally life changing and inspirational.”

Michael Costa, Cory Dunnington and Jennifer Betz in Heike Brachlow’s Shaping Color class at The Studio.

Learn more about the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund, and others.

GlassLab on Governors Island: Soap bubbles, drunken vessels, glass buoys, ice cream cones and more

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Yvette Sterbenk

GlassLab, the Museum’s design program, began on Governors Island last weekend. It was hot, but that didn’t keep the crowds, or the good ideas, away.

Crowds watch GlassLab at Governors Island

The first weekend featured mostly graphic and exhibit designers who are represented in the Cooper-Hewitt’s exhibition, Graphic Design: Now in Production, which is showing on Governors Island all summer. It really is a rich experience to see the designers’ work in the show and then see how they are challenging (and being challenged by) the material of glass at GlassLab.

Peter Buchanan-Smith worked in a private design session on Friday for the media and some invited guests. His design concept was a buoy made of glass. You can read more about his design session on the NY Times T Magazine blog.

Glass Buoy designed by Peter Buchanan-Smith

Designer Eric Ku was inspired by the idea of glass bubbles, designing a whimsical piece which looks like a bubble blown on a child’s bubble wand. It looks as if it could float away on a beautiful summer’s day.

Eric Ku holds up his glass bubble

James Victore says he is “a student of chance” and admitted to being challenged by the idea that he could not make the work himself (like many designers he likes working with his hands to explore a material). However, he embraced the opportunity and played with the way glass can capture movement and flowing shapes. His “Drunken Vessels” barely stand up… the way someone who drinks wine from them may feel.

Glassmakers Chris Rochelle and Adam Holtzinger prepare to anneal James Victore's Drunken Vessel

Mike Perry designed a hollow lobed-vessel and explored both shape and color. The second piece was a vibrant, impactful taxi-cab yellow, with four symmetrical lobes, topped by an asymmetrical, slightly curved top.

Designer Mike Perry observes Eric Meek and Adam Holtzinger working on his design

Mike and James will be back this weekend, and we’re excited to see what they want to explore next.

The designers who worked on the Cooper-Hewitt’s Graphic Design show, Chris and Dominic Leong, and often design spaces for exhibits and other installations, played with the idea of project geometric figures in glass.

Chris and Dominic Leong explored geometric shapes in a glass vessel

Finally, the weekend ended on a fun note with illustrate and graphic designer Q Cassetti (designer of the GlassLab logo and many Corning Museum graphics), who played with the idea of ice cream cones and cupcakes in glass. On a hot day, on any island that is shaped like an ice cream cone, it seemed a fitting way to wrap up the weekend.

An ice cream cone made in hot glass seemed an appropriate way to end the weekend

Live flameworking with guest demonstrator Sally Prasch

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Eric Goldschmidt

Live flameworking demonstrations have been a part of the experience we have shared every day with our guests for several decades at The Corning Museum of Glass. Traditionally, our flameworkers have created wonderfully detailed animal sculptures with borosilicate glass rods to the delight of guests of all ages. As the techniques and results of flameworking continue to grow, so too do our demonstrations. Nowadays you might see our flameworkers creating everything from borosilicate goblets to soda-lime glass sculptures and ornaments.

Sally Prasch at the torch during her guest flameworking demo

Last week, the city of Corning, NY hosted the International Scientific Glassblowers Exposition. This annual event is a gathering, produced by The American Scientific Glassblowers Society, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and techniques in the realm of scientific glassblowing. For many years, glassworkers have used lamps and torches to create scientific laboratory-ware to be used in experimentation and research. This approach to glassmaking has been an important catalyst to the advancement of all facets of glassmaking, and this annual conference is a great opportunity for scientific workers to share information.

Here at the Museum, we saw this timing and location of the International Scientific Glassblowing Exposition as an opportunity to share more of this facet of glass-making with our guests. We invited internationally renowned artist, scientific glassblower, and conference co-chair Sally Prasch to demonstrate for our guests.

Sally first began to learn scientific flameworking in 1970 when she took advantage of the opportunity to apprentice with Lloyd Moore. As the scientific glassblower at The University of Nebraska, Mr. Moore took Sally under his wing at the tender age of 13. Since that early start in glassmaking, Sally continued to study artistic glassblowing with several world-renowned artists. She also pursued her formal art education, completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in glass and ceramics at The University of Kansas in 1980. In 1985, Sally completed her Certificate in Scientific Glass Technology from Salem Community College in New Jersey. Since 1986, she has continued to work as both a scientific glassblower and glass artist.

Guest demonstrator Sally Prasch

Sally has a well-earned reputation as an outstanding scientific glassblower, artist, and educator. She has taught hundreds of appreciative students over the past few decades and continues to share her expertise with and passion for glass. She demonstrated some of her expertise for our guests at the museum Wednesday, June 27. Sally created a beautiful glass daffodil in our demonstration booth. This piece combined her skills as both a scientific glassworker and glass artist. The daffodil involves the technical challenges of intricate attachments of both hollow and solid borosilicate with the natural beauty of a delicate plant form. Our guests were thrilled to gain such insight into the world of creating scientific laboratory-ware, and Sally’s ability to translate those technical challenges into such an aesthetically pleasing floral piece.

Glass daffodil by Sally Prasch

We appreciate Sally’s generosity in sharing her skills and talents with our staff and guests, and we look forward to the opportunity to bring in additional guest demonstrators in the future.

Innovations Center Programs Supervisor Eric Goldschmidt and International Scientific Glassblowing Exposition conference co-chair Sally Prasch

Corning Museum of Glass

Behind the Glass

Monthly Archives: July 2012