Since its inception in 1999, the New York Metropolitan Glass Club has met in the Parish Hall of St. Michael’s Church at Amsterdam Avenue and West 99th Street in Manhattan. The interior of St. Michael’s is a sanctuary where glass enthusiasts can connect with each other amongst windows, mosaics, and lamps designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany between 1895 and 1925. Members step into the Upper East Side church on the first Tuesday of every month from October through May to enjoy wine, cheese, and a lecture given by a visiting expert in the glass field. While the first meeting of 2014-2015 is still a couple months away and not all lecture topics have been set in stone yet, the Metropolitan Glass Club has announced its speakers and meeting dates for its upcoming season.
This year, members can expect a talk on iridescent glass from Corning Incorporated Research Fellow, Dr. Greg Merkel to kick off the season. Gay LeCleire Taylor, the former director of the Museum of American Glass of Wheaton Arts will lecture on the glass of New Jersey; Suzanne Perrault from the Rago Arts and Auction Center and appraiser on the television show "Antiques Roadshow" will talk about the Studio Glass Movement; and Sheldon Barr, one of the proprietors of the Barr Venetian Glass Gallery in Manhattan, will deliver a talk fitting for the meeting location titled “Ecclesiastical Tiffany”. Other speakers in attendance this year include the Executive Director and soon-to-be President of the Corning Museum of Glass, Karol Wight, and the Executive Director of the Museum of American Glass in West Virginia, Dean Six.
Lectures for each season follow no set theme or chronology, educating members on an eclectic range of all things glass. Previous club meetings have featured interesting lecture topics like contemporary glass and the studio movement, museum collection and conservation efforts, uranium as an ingredient in glass, past and present glass companies, the work of artists such as Rene Lalique and Emile Galle, and of course, Venetian glass.
Members of the New York Metropolitan Glass Club include art dealers, collectors, and curators, but anyone with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for glass is welcome to join. Annual membership dues are $25 for a student, $60 for an individual, and $75 for a household. In addition to monthly meetings, members enjoy an end of the season celebration complete with a gallery visit or a viewing of a member’s collection. For more information about becoming a member of the New York Metropolitan Glass Club, visit the membership page of their website or send an email to nyglassclub@gmail.com.