All About Glass

All About Glass

This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.

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Studio Demonstration: Davide Fuin
Video

Watch Davide Fuin as he demonstrates for his class, Advanced Venetian Glassblowing, where he shares his vast knowledge and considerable Venetian-style glassblowing skills.

John Shoemaker: Celebrity Scholarship Recipient
Video

John Shoemaker, a Philadelphia resident and 2012 graduate of Tyler School of Art, came to The Studio this summer upon a recommendation from one of his professors to take Benjamin Cobb's class, From the Sketchbook to the Blowpipe. He received a Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship to take

Elizabeth Fortunato: Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Recipient
Video

Elizabeth Fortunato began studying glassblowing at the Pittsburgh Glass Center through a high school program. She continued working with glass through college, exploring kiln working at Kent State. In 2012, she was awarded a Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship to take Erica Rosenfeld and Leo

Master Class 10: Eggshell Thin Pâte de Verre with Shin-ichi Higuchi (Trailer)
Video

Pâte de verre is a kiln-casting process in which colored powdered glass is packed into a plaster mold, then fired at a high temperature. The result is a relatively thick, somewhat opaque object. This complex method of glassworking is shown in great detail in our earlier video Master Class Series IV

Cory Dunnington: Celebrity Cruise Scholarship Recipient
Video

Along with stained glass, Cory Dunnington makes fused and cast glass art. Color inspires much of Cory's work, and Heike Brachlow's kilnworking class, Shaping Color: From Raw Materials to Finished Sculpture at The Studio, gave her the unique opportunity to create the colors she wanted to

Artist in Residence: Mielle Riggie (October 2009)
Video

Mielle Riggie works with both the strength and fragility of glass to illustrate the dynamics of human emotion or conditions. During her residency at The Studio, Riggie created cast-glass sculpture amplifying elements in nature, such as leaves and roots, and recombined disparate parts in ways that

Master Class 1: Cane Working with Lino Tagliapietra (DVD preview)
Video

Viewers follow the celebrated glassmaker Lino Tagliapietra as he makes canes(delicately patterned rods of glass) and uses them to decorate one of his intricate blown vessels at The Studio. Along the way, he notes the importance of the gather in cane-pulling, offers some observations on the state of

Master Class 2: Introduction to Venetian Techniques with William Gudenrath
Video

William Gudenrath, resident advisor of The Studio, provides instruction in the basics of Venetian glassblowing and creates his own Venetian-inspired glass pieces. The portrait of the artist focuses on his passion for glassblowing, teaching and music. Master Class Series, Vol. II: Introduction to

Master Class 7: Beadmaking with Kristina Logan (excerpt)
Video

Kristina Logan is internationally recognized for her precisely patterned, delicate glass beads, which she combines with metalwork to create jewelry and functional objects. In the Master Class video, Logan demonstrates her process of beadmaking at the torch, finishing the glass by cold-working, and

Master Class 4: Pâte de verre with Shin-ichi and Kimiake Higuchi
Video

This DVD focuses on glass artists from Japan who use the pate de verre technique to form intimate glass sculptures that express a love of nature. Kimiake Higuchi demonstrates the making of a cabbage leaf, while her husband, Shin-ichi, produces a mosaic piece. Although they have no formal training

Master Class 5: Flameworking with Cesare Toffolo
Video

In this video, Cesare Toffolo makes both a simple footed bowl and an intricate historical goblet. He hosts a brief tour of flameworked objects in the collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, and he shares his philosophy of teaching, learning, and creating. Cesare Toffolo is considered to be the

Master Class 6: Kiln Formed Glass with Rudi Gritsch
Video

Rudi Gritsch, the Austrian kiln forming artist and instructor takes viewers through many of his processes involving the kiln. We follow Mr. Gritsch as he takes his work from the initial phases of design through the detailed setups, firings, and finishing processes, to completed works of art. Master

Studio Demonstrations: Gianni Toso
Video

Gianni Toso: Glassmaking as a Language, a live flameworking demonstration at The Studio on July 20, 2011.

HQ Version: How do you make the World's Largest Blown Glass Pumpkin?
Video

Make sure you watch this in HQ! Take 70 pounds of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe, lots of trial-and-error glassblowing sessions, and a team of highly-skilled glassmakers, and see what they come up with! At the Corning Museum of Glass in The Studio, a team of gaffers, led by George Kennard,

Studio Demonstrations: Martin Janecky
Video

Watch Studio instructor, Martin Janecky, demonstrate hot sculpting for his class, Blowing and Sculpting Inside the Bubble in June 2011.

Artist in Residence: Marie Retpen (April 2010)
Video

April 2010 Artist-in-Residence Marie Retpen was hot working large pieces that would eventually become part of a large installation. She finds inspiration for her surreal works from the novels Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, and the movie The Terminator.

Davide Salvadore: 2011 Studio Demo
Video

At The Studio, Davide Salvadore instructed on how to apply murrine to blown glass vessels and a Muranese technique called tociar piere. Salvadore comes from a tradition of glassworkers in Murano, and enjoys sharing his knowledge and passion for glass. Davide Salvadore led a week-long workshop in

Master Class 8: Working with Murrine with Davide Salvadore
Video

Davide Salvadore speaks of his profound love and respect for glass, and his family. He demonstrates working with murrine. Master Class VIII: Working with Murrine with Davide Salvadore (30 minute DVD presented by The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass).

Artist in Residence: Eliza Au (April 2010)
Video

April 2010 Artist-in-Residence Eliza Au used the lost wax casting method to create a delicate glass prayer rug, meant to reflect the fragility of religion and belief. Much of her work is influenced by Gothic wrought-iron fences or Islamic tile and textile patterns.

Artist in Residence: Beth Lipman (April 2011)
Video

Beth Lipman, artist-in-residence at The Studio, discusses her work.

Studio Demonstrations: Paul Stankard and Lucio Bubacco
Video

Watch Paul Stankard and Lucio Bubacco demonstrate for their Studio course, Fiore e Angeli (Flowers and Angels), in which they share their signature flameworking styles and techniques in a celebration of flowers and angels.

Studio Demonstrations: Loren Stump
Video

Watch Loren Stump demonstrate for his Studio course, Advanced Floral Murrine, how to use to use a variety of complex murrine components to achieve high detail in miniature floral design. January 11, 2012, at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass.

Studio Demonstrations: Max Erlacher
Video

Watch Max Erlacher demonstrate for his Studio course, Engraving and Cold Working Techniques, in which this master engraver shares his knowledge of copper, stone, and diamond engraving, and cold working techniques. Max Erlacher has more than 40 years of experience with copper, stone, diamond

Artist-in-Residence: Veronika Beckh (November 2011)
Video

"In my work, very often, it is good to take a second look." A Berlin-based artist, Veronika Beckh has exhibited extensively in the United States and Europe. Her work invites viewers to disconnect from the noise and chaos of everyday life and to find light, tranquility, and contemplation.

Artist-in-Residence: Min Jeong Song (October 2011)
Video

"I want the viewer to expereince the process of blurring boundaries between cultures by looking at my work." Min Jeong Song studies ornamental styles across time periods and geography, and her work explores how certain attributes of glass can be used to create ambivalent objects: objects

Artist-in-Residence: Amie McNeel (October 2011)
Video

"My initial relationship to the arts would probably be observation. Watching things change, watching things grow." Amie Laird McNeel came to The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass as part of the joint Artists-in-Residence partnership with the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. A

Artist-in-Residence: Mathieu Grodet
Video

Mathieu Grodet is a French-born artist living and working in Canada. He creates thin and elegant glass objects in classic Venetian style, engraved with imagery that addresses modern-day ideas and issues. In his March 2012 Residency at The Studio, Grodet used the Museum's Rakow Library to

Artist-in-Residence: Norwood Viviano
Video

Norwood Viviano uses digital 3D modeling and printing technology in combination with the casting process to create his sculptural works. During his March 2012 Residency at The Studio, Viviano created urban and industrial landscapes out of kiln-cast glass as an extension of his previous

Gayla Lee: Celebrity Cruise Scholarship Recipient
Video

Gayla Lee was first entranced by glass at the age of 8 when she encountered a glassblower at a Renaissance festival. Her fascination with the material eventually led her to an apprenticeship in a Baltimore glass studio at the age of 20. Lee took Davide Salvadore's class, Creating and Using

Studio Demonstrations: Michael Schunke
Video

Watch as Michael Schunke demonstrated goblet-making skills for his Studio course, Goblet Thinking for the Modern World. Students detached from expectations and remained open to the unexpected, enabling both success and—more importantly—failure. Students learned the skills to manage these opposite

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