The Glass Art Society, in collaboration with The Corning Museum of Glass, will be hosting the 45th annual GAS conference in 2016 at the museum’s location in Corning, New York, just seven years after it hosted the 2009 conference. The occasion for the return to The Corning Museum is the institution's new North Wing and Campus Green, due to open in December 2014. The $64 million new expansion to the museum, funded by benefactor Corning Incorporated, will include several innovative additions such as a 26,000-square-foot sky-lit gallery, an expansive hot-glass demonstration venue, and a one-acre outdoor event space.
“We are delighted to have the Glass Art Society return to our city in 2016,” says Karol Wight, executive director of the museum, in a prepared press release. “The conference infuses our glass-focused community with even more energy, creativity and passion. We look forward to providing new programs that will take advantage of our new contemporary gallery and hot-glass demonstration spaces, as well as newly-renovated city parks and buildings.”
The new gallery is designed in minimalist white style to complement the dark exterior of the Steuben factory, and its skylights will provide the majority of the necessary lighting to view the contemporary glass art on display during the day. The hot-glass demonstration venue will have a seating capacity of 500 banked seats, enabling uniform viewing, as well as a surrounding gallery-level balcony. The expansion will provide more opportunities to view demonstrations and the large new collections of contemporary art, while still leaving available space for the 45,000 glass works currently on display at the museum, which include antiquated works from Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece.
“We are absolutely thrilled to announce our return to Corning and to be the first major conference in the newly-expanded CMoG campus,” said GAS executive director Pamela Koss in the same press release. “the new 50-seat hot shop, gallery, and facilities will give attendees a whole new experience.”