A look ahead to the May 2025 GAS conference in Texas, and the artist association's increasingly international vision for the future

Last year's Glass Art Society conference, held in Berlin, Germany, was the first to be held outside the U.S. since the 2018 Murano conference. The shift to Europe for last year's event was part of the organization's 2019 commitment to hold its annual gathering of artists at international locations more frequently, which GAS Executive Director Brandi Clark has presented as part of her vision of the artist organization. In fact, Clark told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet her goal is to hold the event outside of the U.S. every three to four years. For the 2024 Berlin Conference, she reports an attendance of just under 1,000. While the upcoming conference in May 2025 will take place in Texas, GAS plans to continue to focus on planning to hold events internationally, including the 2026 International Festival of Glass in the United Kingdom, which it will take over and run (See "Handover: The British Glass Biennale and International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge prepare to be taken over by the Glass Art Society, which will run the 2026 editions of both events" by Emma Park, in the Winter 2024-25 edition of Glass, #177). The venue for the 2026 GAS conference is yet to be announced.

Einar and Jamex de la Torre made their work Meteorite dall’ Influenza Veneziana (2024) as a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass while their retrospective exhibition was on view. courtesy: corning museum of glass

Tuesday December 17, 2024 | by Sophie Faber

Einar and Jamex de la Torre's Glass Meteorite Crash Lands at Corning

We tend to think of a natural disaster as something that happens in one bright instant of overwhelming, unstoppable power. It’s discordant to think of something so devastating as actually fragile at times, and with power that waxes and wanes through various stages of life. Einar and Jamex de la Torre’s latest glass art installation presents the fragility of force, decked out in a host of ancient and modern signals of change. Meteorite dall’Influenza Veneziana appears to us in the form of a large meteorite, studded with glass configurations and trailed by a blaze of color. Here, Murano glass techniques are uniquely presented alongside Mexican and American cultural elements, displaying cultural diffusion and the collaborative nature of glass art.

Curator Alyssa Velazquez (center) speaks with some of the featured artists at the exhibition's opening celebration Smash the ceiling, floor and walls; take the broken shards and blow it back. 2024. photo: nathan j shaulis

Wednesday November 20, 2024 | by Sophie Faber

Carnegie Museum assistant curator Alyssa Velazquez pushes boundaries with Pittsburgh Glass Center project

Most of us are familiar, maybe even personally, with the term "glass ceiling." However, the concept of an invisible barrier in the workplace that prevents women and minorities from advancing professionally need not be simply accepted, however grudgingly. In fact, the metaphor can be recast, transformed from something that is scorned but widely accepted into something that becomes the change. The Pittsburgh Glass Center's new exhibition, Smash the ceiling, floor and walls; take the broken shards and blow it back, does exactly this, metaphorically speaking.

Marquee Before And After Helene 1536X864

The Marquee, Asheville's once-bustling art market, before and after the storm. 2024. photo: marquee asheville

Thursday November 7, 2024 | by Sophie Faber

After the hurricane, Asheville glass artists look to an uncertain future, seek to make up for lost sales

The late-September arrival of the remnants of Hurricane Helene, a slow-moving deluge of rain and destructive winds, killed 42 citizens of Buncombe County, which surrounds Asheville, North Carolina. This Western North Carolina city of less than 100,000 is a glassblowing center, where the steady flow of tourists on weekends, especially in the months from October to December, have supported multiple glass artists in their careers. The natural beauty of this mountainous region regularly drew weekend shoppers watching the leaves turn and stocking up on holiday gifts at the burgeoning galleries, artist studios, and craft marketplaces such as the Marquee, which opened in Asheville's River Arts District in 2021. But the trillions of gallons of rain that fell across the Southeast U.S. on September 27th as the hurricane made its way north caused catastrophic flooding across Buncombe County, and especially in downtown Asheville, where the French Broad River crested 24-feet above normal the waters, climbing to the soaring ceiling of the Marquee.

Te Rōngō Kirkwood, The Seer, the Seen, the Seeing, 2024. Blown glass. photo: jen raoult

Saturday November 2, 2024 | by Sophie Faber

New Zealand artist Te Rōngō Kirkwood awarded 2024 Rakow Commission

The 2024 Rakow Commission from The Corning Museum of Glass has been awarded for the first time to an artist from New Zealand. Te Rōngō Kirkwood, a mixed-media glass artist, is also the first indigenous Māori artist to be selected for this prestigious commission to make a work for the Corning permanent collection. Her pieces, made with both blown and fused glass in addition to other materials, bring the vibrancy and power of Māori culture to New York State this fall.