As sure as winter turns to spring, this time of year sees the mailboxes (and email inboxes) of glass enthusiasts jammed to overflowing with summer catalogs from the major schools: Arrowmont, Bild-Werk Frauenau (Germany), Corning Studio, Glass Furnace (Turkey), Haystack, North Lands (Scotland), Oxbow, Penland, Pilchuck, Pittsburgh, and UrbanGlass. To help sort through the dizzying offerings, the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet offers our highly opinionated picks of some of the most exciting courses being offered. This is far from a complete list, and we are leaving out plenty of important classes. But we hope you will find inspiration in our efforts to shine the light on some of the more notable offerings for summer 2010 and do your own exploring of the links to the 11 summer programs we’ve provided above.

Tuesday March 16, 2010 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions For ... Jiyong Lee

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

The head of the glass program at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, since 2005, Jiyong Lee is pictured working in his studio.

Monday March 15, 2010 | by ptravisano

Art auction raises money for Washington D.C.-area glass artist

FILED UNDER: News

"Birds on a Wire," Nicole Puzan. Glass Plate. H 6in, W in.

Saturday March 13, 2010 | by Andrew Page

Call for Donations: Beadmakers group seeks jewelry for online fundraiser

FILED UNDER: Call for Submissions, Events, News

This donated glass bead by J.C. Herrell features a highly contemporary brick motiff and cylindrical shape.

Friday March 12, 2010 | by Andrew Page

Bild-Werk Frauenau, the Pilchuck of Europe, will have founder Erwin Eisch as artist in residence

FILED UNDER: Education, Events, News

Wednesday March 10, 2010 | by Andrew Page

Canadian glass sculptor Ione Thorkelsson wins $25,000 Saidye Bronfman Award

FILED UNDER: Award, News

Living in a small town in the prairie lands of Manitoba, nearly two hours from Winnipeg, sculptor Ione Thorkelsson has developed her own unique techniques of casting and her own subject matter — provocative glass skeletal forms that manage to be both organic and other-worldly. In her 2009 work Rex (pictured), a viewer is confronted with the familiar (is it a dinosaur?) and the unexpected (is it a little girl’s skeleton in a skirt?) as the artist plays with scale, form, and iconography to powerful effect. Yesterday it was announced that the Canada Council for the Arts had awarded Thorkelsson its Saidye Bronfman award for excellence in the crafts, which includes a $25,000-prize.