Fall 2007/Winter 2008
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Fall 2007/Winter 2008 Joint Exhibition with Getty Villa Examines Modern Glass Inspired the by Ancient Rome New Exhibition Kicks Off “Masters of Studio Glass” Series Education Programs Integrate Gather Glass into Local Schools Corning Museum of Glass DIRECTOR’S LETTER Houstonia caerulea L. Bluets, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, 1894. Harvard University Herbaria of The Harvard Museum Museum News of Natural History. It’s a Saturday in July and the galleries are filled with visitors speaking a dozen different languages. There is a buzz of anticipation. What’s next? Make a flower, Explore More through New Website Features Annual Seminar Reflects on Nature in Glass look at the Blaschkas’ flowers in the summer exhibition, or buy a bunch of flowers in the GlassMarket? The Corning Museum of Glass has something for everyone New media and other great features on The Corning Museum of Artists have long reflected the natural world in their work, and artists and we strive to make every visit memorable. Glass website, www.cmog.org, now offer even more access to the working in glass are no exception. This year’s annual Seminar will world of glass. You don’t need to be a technical wizard to enjoy: explore the topic of “Nature in Glass” through lectures, demonstra- tions, field trips, book signings and interactive sessions. Participants At the Museum, we show our visitors wonderful glass, and we communicate our • More than 40 viewable and downloadable short video may make their own glass, observe historical and contemporary passion for glass through labels, brochures, Audio Guides, and videos. Visitors segments on glassworking techniques. flameworking demonstrations, and watch artists create glass objects. Photo by Robert Barker. also can choose from an array of opportunities to interact with staff, docents, and • Meet the Artist podcasts, featuring interviews with studio glass artists by Tina Oldknow, the Museum’s curator of volunteers. They can sign up for a one-on-one Make Your Own Glass experience. They can The 46th Annual Seminar on Glass takes place October 11 – 13, modern glass. at the height of autumn beauty in the surrounding Finger Lakes learn how glassblowers create work in the Hot Glass Show, discover some of the proper- • Images and explanations of more than 1,500 objects in the region—an ideal backdrop for examining this subject. ties of glass in Magic of Glass demonstrations, and find out about making glass flowers in Museum’s collection in an easy-to-search tool (go to “Glass Speakers and artists include: Flameworking Live! We aim to pique our visitors’ curiosity, encourage them to ask ques- Collection” and “Browse the Collection”). • Segments about objects in the collection from our handheld • tions, and provide the answers. Curators of The Corning Museum of Glass Audio Guides that can be played on your desktop or down- • Paul Greenhalgh, director and president of the loaded for free onto an MP3 player (go to “Glass Collection,” In addition, we strive to stimulate creativity, not only at The Studio and the Make Your Own Corcoran Gallery of Art then “Listen to the Audio Guide”). • Lindsy Parrott, associate curator of The Neustadt Glass workshop, but also in the galleries. Draw and Discover programs encourage partici- • Rakow Library resources, including our unique international Collection of Tiffany Glass pants to look and, with paper and pencil, to interpret what they see. Draw Like the Blaschkas glass exhibition database, an online “Ask a Librarian” feature, • Debora Moore, 2007 Rakow Commission artist is an invitation to young (and not so young!) visitors to emulate the Blaschkas by observing and a number of searchable catalogues. • Susan Rossi-Wilcox, recently retired administrator of the Harvard Glass Flowers nature and drawing what they see. You Design It; We Make It! involves would-be designers In addition, visitors may now go online to buy admission and in a dialogue with glassblowers at the Hot Glass Show. Make Your Own Glass tickets, become a Member, or shop the The cost for the full seminar is $225 for Members, $250 for GlassMarket for select items any time of the day. non-Members and $150 for students. Individual lectures cost $20 Elsewhere in the galleries, our Explainers engage visitors in conversations about glass and per lecture for Members and $25 per lecture for non-Members. glassmaking—and give them the opportunity to handle selected objects. There are Hidden Contact Louise Maio at [email protected] or 607.974.4084. Treasures tours, tours of the summer exhibition “Botanical Wonders,” and customized tours for groups that book ahead of time. The list seems to be endless! Telling the World about Glass—in Other Languages We also reach outside the Museum to provide engaging, informative experiences for people who may never come to Corning. Our website (www.cmog.org) can bring glass into Did you know that about able to visitors when they arrive Institute of Technology’s Ameri- from around the world. These every home or classroom that has a computer and Internet access. Recent additions to the one-fourth of the visitors to at the Museum. can University in Kosovo trained graduates are multi-lingual, The Corning Museum of Glass in the GlassMarket, Make Your and have been an invaluable site include more than 40 video segments on glassworking techniques, Meet the Artist pod- The Museum also offers come from outside the United Own Glass workshop, and in resource in providing the best Audio Guides and exhibition casts, segments from our handheld Audio Guides, and images of more than 1,500 objects in States? In response to the Guest Services assisting visitors services to our customers. brochures in Mandarin and the collection. growing number of tourists who Spanish, the two most common do not speak English as their non-English languages spoken Our publications also reach internationally. Annually, in addition to Journal of Glass Studies primary language, the Museum by our visitors. On most days, recently launched a targeted and New Glass Review, we publish on average one scholarly book or exhibition catalogue. Mandarin translation is available translation initiative. This year, there will be two: Drawing upon Nature and Reflecting Antiquity (the catalogue of for the Hot Glass Show demon- our forthcoming exhibition with the J. Paul Getty Museum). The initiative begins by speak- strations. ing to visitors, in their own The Museum’s staff is incred- language, before they reach And, of course, the Hot Glass Roadshow will be, well, on the road. Future venues include ibly multi-lingual. In a pinch, Corning. The Museum’s website a return visit to the design workshop at Boisbuchet in southwestern France. It is one of the staff members can speak to now contains visit planning visitors in more than a dozen many ways we live up to our promise to tell the world about glass. information in eight languages: languages, including Bulgarian, English, Spanish, Mandarin, Ital- Macedonian, and Swahili. ian, Japanese, French, Korean, and German. Tour maps in This past summer, seven recent Photo by Maria Strinni Gill. these same languages are avail- graduates from the Rochester Arlinda Ahmeti (far left) and Bulezim Azemi (far right) are two of the recent graduates from the American University in Kosovo who trained at the Museum this summer helping international visitors. 1 The Gather | Fall 2007/Winter 2008 2 Reflecting Antiquity Modern Glass Inspired by Ancient Rome By David Whitehouse, Executive Director A groundbreaking exhibition produced 19th century. Also, Japonisme bor- wood poured money and the efforts There are nine imitations, and these in- Above left: by the J. Paul Getty Museum and The rowed motifs and aesthetic ideas from of his best craftsmen into perfecting clude the first modern example, made Cage cup, early fourth century A.D., Arthur Rubloff Residuary Trust. Corning Museum of Glass, “Reflect- Japan after that country opened its ceramic replicas of the Portland Vase, from a design by Leó Valentin Pantoc- Above middle: ing Antiquity: Modern Glass Inspired ports to foreign trade in 1854. and, later, John Northwood and Jo- sek in the 1860s. Plaque, Italy, Venice, probably by Ancient Rome” opens October 18 seph Locke sealed their reputations by workshop of Francesco Toso Borella, Ancient mosaic glass became widely late 19th century. Formerly in the at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, and Revivals in Glass making glass replicas. (One of Wedg- known following the rediscovery and collection of Mrs. Applewhaite-Abbott. runs through January 14, 2008. Then A number of 19th-century glassmakers wood’s first ceramic versions, together excavation of the buried remains of Above right: it travels to The Corning Museum of responded to the demand for products with Northwood’s and Locke’s unique Cane slice with head of satyr, Pompeii in 1748. In the 19th century, Glass, where it will be on view February inspired by historical or exotic styles. glass replicas, are in the show.) These Roman Empire, first century B.C. glassmakers, especially in Murano, to first century A.D. Formerly in 15 – May 27, 2008. No other venues are “Reflecting Antiquity” explores the replicas excited a craze for cameo glass the collection of Ray Winfield Smith. experimented with designs based on planned. ways in which they drew inspiration in late-Victorian England. Brothers these spectacular originals. Sometimes from the glass of ancient Rome. The George and Thomas Woodall, working “Reflecting Antiquity” is the first major the ancient and modern glasses are so show begins with an overview of the for Thomas Webb & Sons, led a team Related Publications exhibition to focus on the influence similar that experts have difficulty tell- ways in which glassmakers in the 1800s of extraordinarily skilled cold workers, and Activities of ancient Roman styles on the glass- ing them apart.