Recycled glass plays a leading role in miraculous repair of major highway, introducing many to the potential of "foamed glass"

In June, a tanker truck full of gasoline caught fire and exploded under a six-lane bridge that carries traffic along a busy section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, killing driver Nathaniel Moody in the ensuing inferno. The heat was so intense that a northbound section of the I-95 overpass collapsed and the southbound lanes were so damaged they could no longer safely support the weight of the 160,000 vehicles using this crowded artery each day.

Saturday July 22, 2023 | by Andrew Page

Artist and educator Alli Hoag named as Toledo Museum of Art GAPP artist for Fall

The head of the glass art program at Bowling Green Sate University, Alli Hoag, has been named the latest Guest Artist Pavilion Project artist-in-residence by the Toledo Museum of Art. From August 23 through September 1, 2023, Hoag will be on site at the museum's glass studio creating new work, and also will present to the public about her process and her ideas on August 25th at 7 PM.

Trenton Quiocho on the set of Blown Away, Season Three. photo: david leyes. courtesy: marblemedia

Thursday July 13, 2023 | by Sponsored Content

Up your technical game by grabbing one of the remaining slots in an UrbanGlass summer intensive

Whether you're working to develop more complex hot-sculpting or expanding your glass designs into lighting, there are unique educational opportunities at UrbanGlass to turn the Summer of 2023 into a game-changer for your studio practice. Learn from Blown Away contestants Jason MacDonald or Trenton Quiocho, whose skills earned them a spot on the international reality-show sensation. Or dive into glass-bead techniques in the Native American tradition with Lenise Omeasoo, or learn from glass-bead expert Sheila Checkoway without having to travel to her usual Massachusetts turf. The UrbanGlass hot shop, flat shop, and flame studio will be buzzing with activity this summer, so reserve your place to be a part of it before these classes are full!

Tensions build as the 2023 Goblet Grab is about to start at the Detroit Conference. photo: sunny wang

Wednesday July 12, 2023 | by Kinshasa Peterson

Deadline for 2024 Berlin GAS conference proposals is July 30th

The 2024 Glass Art Society Conference, scheduled to take place next year from May 15th through the 18th in Berlin, Germany, will be the first time since the 2018 Murano GAS conference that the annual gathering of glass artists will take place in Europe. The deadline to submit a proposal for the Berlin event is Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 11:59pm PST, with those responding to the Call for Proposals directed to the Submittable platform. (Clicking the link takes you to the official GAS application form.)

Tuesday July 11, 2023 | by Andrew Page

Brooklyn artist Layo Bright receives the 2023 Pittsburgh Glass Center's Ron Desmett Award

Brooklyn-based artist Layo Bright has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Ron Desmett Memorial Award celebrating artists "who think outside of the box, practice curiosity, and take risks to create unique, imaginative works in glass," according to the official announcement. Named in honor of PGC's late co-founder, the award cited Bright's explorations of African design techniques and symbolism through her glass sculptures as the reason for the award.

Monochromatic Cuboid, 2023. Glass. H 8 3/4, W 8 1/4, D 8 1/4 in.

Thursday July 6, 2023 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Jiyong Lee debuts at Traver Gallery with "Invisible Microcosm" through July 29, 2023

South Korean-born artist Jiyong Lee, who has headed the Southern Illinois University glass program since 2005, will open his first solo exhibition at Seattle's Traver Gallery tonight with an exhibition entitled "Invisible Microcosm." An opening reception this evening at Traver Gallery will offer the first look at some of Lee's new explorations of the beauty of cellular biology, a focus of the artist's exacting work for decades. Rigorous cutting, lamination, carving and surface treatments are just some of the techniques he has perfected to achieve his understated but refined aesthetic of the "Segmentation" series. Lee will be the subject of an in-depth feature article in the upcoming Fall 2023 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#172) by contributing editor William Ganis.

Wednesday July 5, 2023 | by Andrew Page

CONVERSATION: Leo Tecosky on his recent $100,000 craft award, aging glass collectors, and a new era for equity in glass

Brooklyn-based artist Leo Tecosky, who was featured in the Spring 2022 edition of Glass (#166) after the unveiling of his Rakow Commission work, was recently named as one of five recipients of the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation 2023 Awards in Craft, which is an unrestricted $100,000 award and one of the largest awards for craftspeople and artists in the country. Tecosky was recognized for his mixed-media works that explore the hip-hop canon through blown, cut, enameled, and painted glass forms. Administered by United States Artists, the Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Craft seek to support craftspeople’s work in ways that recognize the importance of their varied, hands-on explorations of cultural heritage, emerging technologies, materials and trades, with a special focus on the intersections between them. The 2023 Awardees also include multimedia artist Adebunmi Gbadebo; furniture maker, artist and educator Aspen Golann; multidisciplinary artist Shane R. Hendren; and timber framer Blain Snipstal.

Tuesday June 27, 2023 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: UrbanGlass has two opportunities at the director level

UrbanGlass, the Brooklyn, New York, nonprofit art center founded in 1977, is seeking a creative and collaborative Education Director to champion its educational initiatives and community-outreach programs. In addition, this innovative cultural organization at the forefront of artistic expression with glass is also seeking an experienced professional to assume the integral position of Director of Development. (Disclosure: UrbanGlass is the publisher of the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet.)

Thursday June 1, 2023 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Summer 2023 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#171)

The Summer 2023 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#171) is arriving in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands. On the cover is a striking image of a kente cloth travel bag, which upon closer inspection is discovered to be made of digitally printed fused glass, crafted to look convincingly like fabric. As Glass contributing editor Emma Park discovered, many Ghanaians who had migrated to Nigeria for work were forced to leave after an economic downturn in the 1980s, and many of the deported workers left with their belongings in kente cloth bags, which became known as “Ghana Must Go Bags.” For the artist Anthony Amoaka-Attah, the object remains a potent symbol of dislocation and cultural history. Park discusses Amoako-Attah’s journey and the things he brings with him from the past as he embraces the future in the form of new technologies and opportunities.

Wednesday May 24, 2023 | by Kinshasa Peterson

The 2023 Glass Art Society conference (coming up soon!) celebrates Detroit's creative community

The Glass Art Society's 2023 conference in Detroit, scheduled for the rapidly approaching dates of June 7th through 10th, will present a full slate of lectures, demonstrations, exhibitions, and student meetups, all of which will kick off with a fundraiser, Firestarter, on the evening of Tuesday, June 6th. Now in its 52nd year, the annual GAS conference is one of the main sources of revenue for this artist organization, and it brings together artists, collectors, and suppliers for opportunities to learn from one another; exchange wares and knowledge; and generally revel in a shared passion for the medium whether sculptors, designers, pipemakers, or engravers. As has become customary, the conference is packed wall-to-wall with events at multiple venues, and this iteration sees venues throughout the Motor City, including at the Russell Industrial Center, a former industrial building that has been converted into studio rentals and has become known as the biggest arts hub in the Midwest. In addition to the fundraising Firestarter event, the GAS Conference will feature a slate of collector-focused activities including day trips to historic sites in Detroit and the surrounding region in the days before the conference with curator-led experiences at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the Henry Ford Museum, and demonstrations at local glass studios, among other venues.

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.