Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU, Virgie and John Holtzapple for your recommendation to go to the Corning Museum of Glass! Barry and I are so glad we made a small change in our route to include two nights in Corning on our itinerary. This allowed us a full day at the museum!
We arrived at the museum August 18 at 10am when it opened, and didn’t leave till 5:15pm! There are over 50,000 pieces of glass in the complete collection of the museum, but only about 10% on display at a time. Wow! After being here all day, I can’t comprehend that this was only 10% of what they have!
Upon entering we saw this towering piece of Chihuly blown glass artwork. Being from the Seattle area, we immediately recognized his work.
You get a full history of glass across the globe as you go through the museum. There is a nice section that goes into the use of glass within the fields of science and technology. I will not be attempting to encapsulate it all here!
Green is the natural color of glass if nothing is added to the sand. The sand has iron naturally occurring in it which gives the glass a green tint.
This glass lynx was so cool!
Butterflies of solar panels create a unique chandelier!
Here is a super short video to show the butterfly movement around the central globe light of the chandelier. The butterflies are moving – not me!
“While You Were Sleeping” by Christina Bothwell.
Christina combines ceramic and glass in her sculpture to make visible the idea that we are souls housed in skin bodies. The representation of the soul, or “light body,” is especially well “suited to glass because one of the material’s most powerful properties is that it holds light in its mass, just as the spirit is held in the physical body.
This was such an awesome piece. The use of the darker materials for the head, neck and hair grounds the piece and beautifully portrays the weight of the earthly body in contrast to the light, lifting soul or spirit. I loved this piece!
The architecture of the Museum brought in an amazing amount of natural light that enhanced several of the exhibit areas. The use of white throughout also was significant to create the best viewing of the glass. The use of rounded interior and exterior walls intentionally created seamless flows from one area to another as well as within each exhibit area.
Sample of blown glass paperweights. I remember one my mom got in Italy and it sat on her desk for the rest of her life.
This was an exquisite window–I think it was my favorite of all I saw today.
Another stunning piece by C. Tiffany.
Beautiful glass mosaic column!
Mosaic Panel of Peonies – Tiffany Glass
The irregular ruffled edges of the flower petals are notoriously difficult to cut, which reveals the expert handling of the material by Tiffany glass cutters.
School of NANCY. 🙂
The art glass industry flourished around the French town of Nancy. This was partly due to the ambitions of the glassmaker Emile Galle’. The artists and designers there were united by their interests in nature, Japanese art, and Impressionist painting. In 1901, they formed an influential association, the Ecole de Nancy. Its hallmark was the Art Nouveau taste for ornamentation inspired by nature.
More windows:
Iridescent (Favrile) Glass:
Richard Marquis (below) is from Whidbey Island, Washington!!
Robert Carlson – from Seattle, Washington
Sonja Bromdahl from Seattle, Washington:
From Dale Chihuly’s beginnings with glass in the 1960s, he focused on the sculptural qualities of the material, using the blown vessel as a vehicle for the exploration of color and form.
I love looking at beautiful glass paperweights. My mom and grandma each had one from Italy.
Ah–WINE bottles (and glasses). Something all our friends can relate to. 🙂 The first bottle still resembles Italian Chianti bottles used today.
I remember seeing an example of Reverse-Painted glass, I think at my Aunt Judy’s. I can’t imagine trying to use this method to do a realistic portrait!
While this is not the best picture of the glass painting, it is the first that it has been on display for 50 years following damage from the catastrophic flood of the Chemung River in 1972.
Germany glasses for beer and wine! Thinking now about the grip on the stem, which as you drink become more important.
Maybe you’d play it safe by selecting the glass below on the right. Definitely a more tradition one to use! Watch out though. Looks can be deceiving. Read why in the description next to it!
A micromosaic with a view of St Mark’s Basilica – signed by E. Cerator 1907, Venice, Italy
Musical Wall Clock with Glass Bells – from the Black Forest region of Germany, about 1800. The glass bells would play one of 6 different tunes on the hour.
Cutting vs Engraving
The primary difference between cutting and engraving is the size of the tools used and the way the glassmaker holds the glass in relation to the rotating wheel.
Beautiful Blown, Cut Glass
The largest existing American cut glass punch bowl is pictured below. It was huge!
Some amazing cut glass designs.
How does Corning, New York fit into the world of glass?
Glass that improves safety for land, sea and air.
Depending on where we stood, Barry’s head could be quite large while mine was normal or smaller than normal.
FiberGLASS enhances our lives
PYREX – so many uses!
CORNING HOT SHOPS
Hot shop demonstrations were fun to watch. I’ve been fascinated by glassblowers – both hot shop blowers, and flame blowers since I was about 4/5 years old and I watched some in action in Venice, Italy.
Flame Blower – Creating a turtle from a sketch submitted by a boy earlier.
Finishing touches to the turtle:
Glass Blowers Demonstrations Using the Glory Hole
Single Glory Hole Demo Space/Studio
A longer demonstration by one of the residents at the Corning Museum of Glass was scheduled for 5:30pm! We planned to attend, but unfortunately, even though we could have made it without any problem, we forgot about it. Dang! But, guess what!?! I just discovered these can be found online one of two ways! Not as cool as being right there, but at least we had been in that space.
You can watch some amazing artistry and fascinating techniques by instructors and/or guest artists via Live Stream. (link: https://whatson.cmog.org/events-programs/live-streaming)
OR you can watch previous sessions via the museum’s YouTube Channel (
Here is the one we missed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsuD5z2AHV8
We noticed while waiting for the hot shop demos, a quick ad on a monitor for “Blown Away” on Netflix. So, tonight while having dinner we pulled it up. This was an actual series that we had previously been watching, but got sidetracked from it months ago. It was now even more fun to watch. We blew through (pun intended) several episodes that night, and will continue with it. The season starts with 10 talented glass blowers who are competing for the $60,000 prize as the Blown Away Champion, and a one-year residency at Corning Museum of Glass! Barry and I both HIGHLY recommend watching these on Netflix! We are anxiously awaiting Season 4, and maybe another Christmas special.
A trailer for Netflix’s series “Blown Away”
The Corning Museum Gift Shop is one you CANNOT pass up!! There is so much to look at. It is like an exhibition of work from current glass artists. I enjoyed the work of the many talented artists and appreciated each unique style. The accompanying prices to the phenomenal pieces easily kept us in the “window shopping” or “just looking/browsing” mode.
While there were some more modestly priced items, if I didn’t immediately know where “it” would be perfect, then I took a picture of it and moved on.
I selected earrings that I can wear regularly.
I love the versatility the following pair had, while being simplistic.
Barry and I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the Corning Museum of Glass. Thanks again, Virgie and John for letting us know what an amazing museum it was.