Displaying items by tag: glassmaking

Glassmaking originated around 2500 B.C. in Mesopotamia, and by the mid-first millennium B.C. it had spread throughout the ancient world. The number of vessels made from glass remained limited, however, until the introduction of two important technical advances—the use of the blowpipe and closed multipart molds—in the late first century B.C. and the early first century A.D., respectively. These advances revolutionized the glass industry under the Roman Empire, making glass vessels accessible to all and allowing producers to create a wide range of shapes, sizes, and usages. Some of the earliest vessels made by mold blowing bear the names of the craftsmen who “signed” the molds.

In the early first century A.D. the most outstanding examples of Roman mold-blown glass were made by a craftsman called Ennion, and products of his workshop are the focus of the exhibition "Ennion: Master of Roman Glass," at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the first exhibition of ancient glass organized by the Metropolitan, which has one of the finest collections of this material in the world.

The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY has revealed the final design of its North Wing expansion, which is expected to open to the public in late 2014. The addition was designed by New York-based architecture firm Thomas Phifer and Partners and will add 26,000-square-feet to the museum. The project will create a new gallery for contemporary glass art and a 500-seat glassmaking demonstration venue in Steuben Glass’ former factory ventilator building, which is next door to the museum.

The contemporary art gallery will be in the minimalist style and feature large exterior glass panels that will allow sunlight to flood into the galleries, which will include massive curvilinear concrete walls. A state-of-the art light-filtering system will be used to adjust the natural sunlight to create ideal lighting for viewing the art. The new gallery will be the largest space dedicated to the presentation of contemporary glass art in the world.    

The Corning Museum of Glass, which opened in 1951, is the world’s leading art museum dedicated to the presentation, display and interpretation of glass and glassmaking. Since its inception, the museum has made a point of incorporating glass into its architecture. Karol Wright, the executive director of the museum, said, ‘Thomas Phifer’s design for the North Wing gallery marks a dramatic new chapter in the rich history of modern and contemporary glass architecture on our campus.” The project, which will cost $64 million to bring to completion, is being full-funded by the museum’s major benefactor, Corning Incorporated.