The 18th annual International Flameworking Conference is headlined by Joe Peters, who started working with glass at a young age. A skilled flameworker with experience as a student and teacher at Snow Farm, a craft school in Massachusetts, Peters is known for his often psychedelic depictions of nature, with a particular emphasis on aquatic life. In 2012, he created an aquarium installation that is now on display at Boston Children’s Hospital. Peters is but one of a range of artists who work with glass appearing at this weekend's International Flameworking Conference (IFC), which will run from March 16-18 at Salem Community College. It is meant to highlight achievement in flameworking through artist demonstrations and other presentations.
The conference will begin with a Friday evening lecture presentation by Judith Schaechter entitled “Mission Statement.” The program, which begins at 7 PM, is free and open to the public, but to attend the next two days of lectures and events that round out the three-day conference requires purchasing admission tickets.
On Sunday, March 18, glass artists Lucio Bubacco and Paul Stankard will collaborate on a demonstration. Bubacco’s works typically emphasize figures in movement with thematic undertones of evolution and transformation. Stankard strives to blend mysticism and magical realism in his works, which are influenced by the poetry of Walt Whitman. Stankard is an alumnus of Salem Community College and the IFC co-chair along with Kristin Deady, SCC’s Glass Education Administrator.
Artists Lisa Demagall, Janis Miltenberger and Nikolai Morse will be welcomed for demonstrations as well. Demagall has an MFA in Sculptural Dimensional Studies from Alfred University. She finds inspiration in household objects’ familiarity and the memories that accompany them. Miltenberger began working with glass in 1978 and focuses on torch work in her pieces. Morse often works with furnace-worked borosilicate.
Princeton University’s Scientific Glass Technologist Mike Souza will demonstrate on the lathe, a tool that rotates a work around an axis to conduct various operations such as cutting or drilling. Additionally, The Corning Museum of Glass’s Meghan D. Bunnell will give a lecture on marketing.
IF YOU GO:
18th Annual International Flameworking Conference
March 16, 2018 - March 18, 2018
Davidow Hall (Friday evening)
Salem Community College
460 Hollywood Avenue
Carney’s Point, NJ 08079
Samuel H. Jones Glass Education Center (Saturday and Sunday)
286 Welchville Road
Salem, NJ 08079
See the IFC website for more information.