The covered open-air hotshop at Pilchuck beckons with its unique atmosphere of creative cooperation.
With five sessions each summer, timing an educational trip to this mecca of glass education is always a trade-off. The choice of when to hit Pilchuck won’t be any easier in the coming 2011 line-up, with some of the biggest names in glass teaching from the very first classes on May 24th all the way through to the last session’s closing on August 26th. Come for Gene Koss’s “Hot Casting for Sculptors” class in Session One, for example, and you’ll miss out on sessions Two to Five, when Michael Glancy, Bertil Valien, Benjamin Moore, Pike Powers, Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, and Jiri Harcuba share their considerable knowledge.
Jiri Harcuba will be teaming up with April Surgent to teach a course in Session Five.
Timing your Pilchuck visit becomes even more complex when Artists in Residence are figured into the mix, bringing an additional two artists onto campus for the duration of a single session. If you’re looking for sheer star power, then Session Five will no doubt be your best bet, with Benjamin Moore, Bertil and Ulrica Vallien, Michael Glancey, and Jiri Harcuba all leading classes. Rounding out the heavyweight lineup is Lino Tagliapietra who will be artist in residence along with Kenyan-born artist Magdalene Odundo. The only downside to Sesson Five is that it will only last 2 weeks, while all other sessions will go 3 weeks.
Sprinkled throughout the five sessions are interesting new approaches to the material, often taught by an up-and-coming younger artist. Madeleine Boulesteix and Nanda Soderberg will be teaming up to discuss using found glass as a material for lighting design and sculpture. Charles Cohan will be teaching a course on glass printing. And Lienors Torre will be leading a class on animation techniques using glass.
For a complete schedule of summer courses broken down be session, visit the Pilchuck website. New this year is an online application form, though the traditional mail-in registration is also being accepted.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact the registrar by telephone at 360-445-3111 ext. 29 or email registrar@pilchuck.com.