The official 2013 Glass Art Society conference may have been scrapped, but the key organizers on the ground in Boston haven’t given up the dream of a glass gathering in Beantown this summer. In fact, they are proceeding with a novel four-day glass event they are calling the “GlassBoston Conference.” Running from June 13th through the 16th, and limited to 200 attendees, it promises to be chock full of workshops, lectures, and demonstrations that will take place across four venues: the MIT Glass Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts; NOCA Glass School in North Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston; and Strattman Design in Boston. (Notably absent is any event at MassArt, which had been one of the major venues in the plans for the GAS conference.) In a departure from the all-encompassing conference fee that GAS uses, the event organizers are selling tickets to individual days of the conference and individual events in a sort of a-la-carte alternative to the all-you-can-eat menu typical of the official conference. Daily prices of $60 are supplemented by additional fees to attend tours or social events such as a barbecue or dance party. In a sign of the unusual financing of the event, many of the lectures and demonstrations are being underwritten (with some sponsored by the Glass Art Society, itself, in a good-will gesture of support). Affordable housing ($68, single room; $88, double) is being offered at the MIT dorms.
The event will kick off with a pre-conference classical goblet workshop from June 10th through 12th, taught by James Mongrain and limited to nine ($550/person). The conference itself will begin on June 13th ($60 for the day) with demos at the MIT Glass Lab, and demos and presentations by MIT professors on everything from an evolving open-source program called “Virtual Glass” developed at the computer science lab at MIT, to a material scientist’s take on the shape of glass. Projects by James Carpenter Design Associates will be discussed by one of the firm’s associates, the legacy of Venini will be discussed by Paolo Venini’s grandchildren Laura and Alessandro De Santillana, and there will be a panel discussion of rapid prototyping in glass. A film festival and nonjuried art exhibition will wind down the day, which will end with a barbecue (for an additional $25/person).
Day Two offers a choice between another day filled with demonstrations (this time taking place at NOCA Glass School in North Cambridge, Massachusetts), that concludes with a gallery tour ($60) or an exclusive guided tour of area museum exhibitions and private homes ($70). Similarly Day Three will split attendees between those seeing additional demos at NOCA ($60) or seeing the demos and attending an exclusive tour of museum exhibitions, an artist studio, a gallery, two private collections as well as lunch and dinner ($175/person). A Saturday night dance party at NOCA will cost an additional $20/person. Day Four will be devoted to demonstrations as well and will also cost $60.
The GlassBoston Conference will conclude with a three-day workshop by Pablo Soto entitled “Breaking Out of the Vessel” and limited to nine participants ($550/person).
For more information, visit the GlassBoston page at the Society of Arts and Crafts.
Purchasing tickets is a rather complex process given the a la carte nature of the event, but can be done online here.
Editor’s Note: The original posting of this article didn’t include the fact that attendance to the conference will be limited to 200.