Anne Gould Hauberg (co-founder of the Pilchuck School) and Ana Thiel (Mexican artist): At the Corning Museum of Glass on noon, June 13, 2001 during the Glass Art Society Conference

The Glass Art Society Conference 2001

June 13-17

The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York

Field Reports and images by William Warmus

Above: Case at the Corning Museum of Glass representing the progress of glassblowing in the Roman Empire.  The map is of the Mediterranean area. Notice glassblower hovering over the case like a guardian angel.

Wednesday, June 13

The first day. Hot and sunny: middle 80 degrees. Tomorrow may break 90. The early registrants are arriving, and there are many of us: 1300-1500 or more people are expected for the 31st annual conference.

Above: Ancient fused murrine plaques at the Corning Museum of Glass

There is a lot to see: The Corning Museum: 25,000 plus objects. The Rakow Library: 25,000 plus books. The Studio: Hot glass demonstrations by masters like Dante Marioni and engraving demos by Jiri Harcuba. Tomorrow, Barbara Maria Stafford will deliver the keynote at 1 PM. She seems to be one of those individuals interested in reviving the stature of the art object (as opposed to the theory of the art object) and I'm looking forward to the presentation.

 

The town square off Market Street where registration is taking place.  Clock tower at center.

Corning is a small town, and Market Street is the main drag. The merchants on the street have, in many cases, given over the windows of their shops to mini exhibitions of the work of artists like Eric Hilton, William Gudenrath, etc. So a stroll down Market is like exploring an open air museum. Very nice, especially if you are on the shady side of the street on a hot day like today.