the corning museum of glass

The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York is full of beauty and wonder. From ancient pieces to contemporary artists, the institution is dedicated not only to the story of glass, but the science and art as well. The museum is centered on the education of glass, using hands-on opportunities, tours, and other educational programs. The main permanent collection is on display in a timeline sort of fashion, depicting glass from its earliest existence through various stages all while maintaining the storyline of glass’s history.
A changing exhibit, “Botanical Wonders: The Story of the Harvard Glass Flowers”, focused on the work of a father and son. Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka created intricate and very delicate models of plants, insects, and even some ocean wildlife. Their work contributed greatly to the education of Harvard students in plant study. Until their glass models, students studied from live or dried models of plants. Of course, live models only lasted a short season and if dried would lose color and therefore became unreliable as a means of study and comparison. The Blaschka’s created the most realistic depictions of the live specimens that they continue to amaze. Honestly, it is difficult to tell which plants are made of glass.

The Contemporary exhibit featured artists who have pushed the limits of glass. Their impressive work was often accompanied by the artists’ own words which added another dimension to their work. Stanislav Libensky said, “Transparency is one of the most important and most characteristic aspects of glass. It is penetrating; it dematerializes the material and connects it with the atmosphere.” His piece used the world around as seen and reflected through his glass sculpture as completing his art piece. The object or sculpture needs to become part of the atmosphere to really take personality and life. Lany Bell said, “…most of [my work] …require the viewer to interact with the work in the actual space it is presented. They become part of it.”
While looking at Bert Frijns piece, “Spiral Forms” of four vessels nested one inside another, this aspect of sculpture and atmosphere came more pronounced. Frijns said, “Generally, people look through transparent glass without really thinking about it, just as we look through the glass of this case to see objects inside.” It, being transparency, exists, though it cannot be seen. He wants us to see transparency to make it visible, because it is part of our environment.

Susan Plum said, “Glass is a metaphor for light and a way to ‘concretize the invisible’.” The artists’ work whatever the design used the environment, whether people, light, other objects, to make visible the transparency of their medium. One piece is a web of glass, twisting and joining to form a four foot sphere. The webbed orb is light to lift, yet is slowly breaking because the weight of itself is nearly too much to support. While the artist may not have intended for such an outcome, the piece is reacting to its environment, to gravity and therefore interacts with the world around.

The common thread through all the exhibits was to better understand this art form that has been around since Roman times. The museum made learning accessible and comfortable for all ages. The glass pieces in their collection are beautiful and illustrate the historical, social and artistic story of glass.