Glass Art Society pivots from cancelled conference to providing crisis resources, including launching its own relief fund

On Monday, March 16, the Glass Art Society decided to refocus its efforts from the cancellation of its 2020 conference to connecting glass artists with resources in the face of the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. "As the situation in the States took a dramatic turn, Brandi [Clark, the executive director] led us to the decision to pivot," Lauren Bayer, communications and social media manager of the artist organization, told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet. By Tuesday, a new "Emergency Relief" page on the GAS website resources page went live, offering more than 60 links to online videos, educational resources, and relief opportunities.

A still from Janusz Pozniak's February 2020 glass-artist demo at the Corning Museum of Glass amphitheater.

Wednesday March 18, 2020 | by Andrew Page

RESOURCES: While The Corning Museum of Glass closes all public programs, it ramps up online offerings

The Corning Museum of Glass officially cancelled all its classes, events, and programs when it temporarily closed its doors on Monday, May 16th, but the world's largest museum of glass art is doing its part to help the glass community stay connected and productive during an unprecedented time when the nation is promoting social distancing as the best hope to control the spread of COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus.

The board of the Glass Art Society in 2020.

Thursday March 12, 2020 | by Andrew Page

The Glass Art Society cancels 2020 conference in Sweden due to coronavirus pandemic; will refund registration fees

On the evening of March 12, 2020, the Glass Art Society issued the somber announcement the board and staff of the artist organization had been hoping against hope they wouldn't have to make. The 2020 conference set to take place May 20 through 23rd in Småland, Sweden, will not be taking place due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus.

Wednesday March 11, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Salem cancels upcoming 2020 International Flameworking Conference citing coronavirus concerns

Citing consultations with health officials, Salem Community College has officially cancelled the 2020 International Flameworking Conference (IFC), which had been scheduled to run from March 20th through 22nd. The announcement explains the college is "acting to protect the safety and welfare of the glass community and other members of the public."

Saturday March 7, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Public-access glass studios take preventative measures to protect users from spread of coronavirus

As concern mounts about the spread of Covid-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus, glass studios in the U.S. are being proactive and hope to help stop the spread as the disease is just beginning to be detected. While the number of confirmed cases remain far lower than in global hot spots in China, Iran, and Italy, the lack of available testing in the U.S. has many worried that the spread of the virus has not been adequately tracked. With the Seattle and New York City regions emerging as locations where dozens of cases have been confirmed, glass studios there are taking steps to do their part in limiting the spread. In addition to UrbanGlass in New York, The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet reached out to the glass studios at Corning (Corning, New York), Espace VERRE (Montreal), Pittsburgh Glass Center (Pittsburgh), Pilchuck (Stanwood and Seattle, Washington), and Public Glass (San Francisco, California) to ask about what steps were being taken in the face of a potential outbreak of Covid-19, and whether they were still planning to attend the Glass Art Society conference in Sweden in May.

John Kiley, Halo, 2018. H 19 in. photo: ben vanhouten

Tuesday March 3, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Venice exhibition that traces the American-Murano connection and its influence on Studio Glass pushes back opening date due to Covid-19 virus

With officials ending Venice's annual Carnival celebration two days early, and a dozen towns in the regions of Lombardy and Veneto currently under quarantine due to multiple cases of confirmed coronavirus (Covid-19), it seems prudent that the organizers of the major exhibition "Venice and American Studio Glass" would push the opening forward a month. Originally set to debut on March 23, 2020, at Le Stanze del Vetro at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, the new opening date is April 26. Also extended is the end-date, as the exhibition will now run through August 2, 2020.

Wednesday February 26, 2020 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Spring 2020 edition of Glass (#158)

The Spring 2020 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#158) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. On the cover is a stained-glass light box by Judith Schaechter titled Murdered Animal (2019), at its centerpiece a mortally wounded feline creature rendered in a stack of stained glass images. The multiple layers allow a level of detail in the ripple of sinewy muscles or vertebral lumps on this animal body curled into a fetal position and cocooned in a womb-like refuge. The animal sports multiple wounds, defined by scarlet drops of blood that pick up the red-hues of the surrounding tapestry-like quasi-decorative field that also resembles a network of vein-like stems, perhaps umbilical connections between the victim and the fertility of the natural world. The richness of this work, and its central theme of nature under assault, make it as timely as it is visually compelling.

Lecturer Susie Peck (l) and assistant professor David Schnuckel (r), in the glass kiln room, lead the RIT Glass Studio and would work closely with the glass studio resident

Tuesday January 28, 2020 | by Andrew Page

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: RIT glass-studio residency offers honorarium, facilities access, studio space, and paid teaching opportunity

Looking for an opportunity to pursue glass-related research, have unlimited access to a high-level glass studio, and be part of a unique community of glass artists and students? There's still time to apply to be the Glass Studio Resident at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. The position runs from August 15, 2020, through May 15, 2021, and offers access to the RIT hot and flame shops, cold-working and mold-making studios, as well as a wide range of kiln equipment.

Judith Schaechter, Lo, the Cow-Faced Maiden, 2019. Stained glass lightbox. H 26, W 29, D 3 in. courtesy: claire oliver gallery, new york

Tuesday January 14, 2020 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Judith Schaechter exhibition opens in New York City on January 18th

Judith Schaechter's upcoming exhibition at New York City's Claire Oliver Gallery, which opens on Saturday, January 18th, borrows its title — "Almost Better Angels" — from a chapter in the 2017 Robert Sapolsky book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, a bestseller that dissects and analyzes the latest science on human behavior. The title reveals that Schaechter, a pioneer of contemporary stained-glass art and its most accomplished practitioner, is in a philosophical mood. No doubt this is because Schaechter will enjoy a major museum retrospective of her career that opens in Feburary 2020 at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York.

Charlotte Potter Kasic returned to the Hampton Roads area in January 2020 after three years in Vermont.

Saturday January 11, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Charlotte Potter Kasic returning to Virginia to take on newly created position at the Barry Art Museum

Charlotte Potter Kasic, the founding manager of the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio, left Norfolk, Virginia, in 2017 to move back to her native Vermont and start her family. Now she's returning to the Hampton Roads area to take a newly created position of manager of museum education and engagement at the Barry Art Museum, which is part of Old Dominion University, and houses the collection of Richard and Carolyn Barry, longtime benefactors of the Chrysler Museum.

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.