Imagination to Creation: Oiva's Birds
Finnish glassmaking comes to Corning! The Corning Museum of Glass is excited to host guest glassmakers Helena Welling and Juha Saarikko. Both gaffers are visiting from the Iittala factory in Finland for a celebration of renowned designer Oiva Toikka’s glass birds. Don't miss glassblowing demos by Finish glassmakers, a live bird display, and bird life history hosted by Tanglewood Nature Center and Museum.
Since the first birds entered production in 1972, Birds by Toikka has become an international institution offering collectors and enthusiasts hundreds of stunning objects to acquire. When asked about his fascination with birds, Oiva Toikka always answers that the birds' fluid form is ideally suited to representation in glass.
Join us for the unique opportunity to watch as gaffers Helena Welling and Juha Saarikko produce Oiva Toikka’s famed bird designs in the Amphitheater Hot Shop. This demonstration is included in the cost of admission. The gaffers will blow glass September 28 through 30 from 10 am to 12 pm and 1 to 4 pm. Can’t make it? Welling and Saarikko's guest artist demonstration will be live-streamed online at cmog.org from 3 to 4 pm on Thursday, September 28.
Browse the full collection of Iittala birds at The Museum Shops.