Masters at work

February 18, 2013 4:41 AM

If you're interested in glassblowing, or if you simply like to watch craftsmen at work, then here's a special treat for you: the Corning Museum of Glass (previously) has posted hours upon hours of videos of their studio demonstrations on Youtube. And if that's not enough, you might want to bookmark their live streams page, for they will be streaming about a dozen studio demonstrations over the summer.

Some of my favourites so far:

William Gudenrath making some intricate goblets;

Gianni Toso and Matthew Urban sculpting a beautiful female head and more out of coloured glass;

Mark Matthews pulling some canes for his spherical objects (not as simple as it sounds);

Lino Tagliapietra demonstrating his mastery (part one, part two)

posted by daniel_charms (11 comments total)

Awesome post! Thanks.
posted by nevercalm at 5:36 AM on February 18, 2013

Nthing the awesomeness of craftsperson videos!
posted by DU at 7:07 AM on February 18, 2013

It's worth noting that the former executive director credited with giving the museum much of its character, David Whitehouse, died Sunday. (I know that sentence doesn't do him justice, but I'm on a mobile phone right now.)
posted by bugmuncher at 7:22 AM on February 18, 2013

I am so incredibly happy I have off today. Thanks for this great post!
posted by kimberussell at 7:24 AM on February 18, 2013

I am privileged to have taken classes with Loren Stump at Corning and Kristina Logan at another location. Learned a LOT.
posted by antiquated at 7:53 AM on February 18, 2013

Don't inhale or you'll get a pane in your guts...
posted by twsf at 8:09 AM on February 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

They did a bunch of demos on Governors Island last summer where they collaborated with designers and artists to create a one-off design. It was really fascinating stuff. Considering it was already bloody hot, I gained even more respect for somebody who spends hours in close proximity to red hot bits of glass. Thanks for the post! This reminds me that I gotta make the trip upstate.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:17 AM on February 18, 2013

William Gudenrath rocks it. An under the weather weekend meant I had time to watch most of these over the weekend.

I can't imagine how hot that studio gets over a day's work. And the silly hats in Alex Brand's demonstration were kind of fun.

Edit: Also, it's really annoying that they don't show the finished pieces after annealing them...until you realize that you're seeing the finished piece anyway...
posted by disclaimer at 2:42 PM on February 18, 2013

Awesome!

If you're closer to Toledo than to Corning, let me also recommend the demos at the Toledo Museum of Art, especially for kids--the demonstrators do a great job and the demo studio is set up really well.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:23 PM on February 18, 2013

Mark Matthews pulling some canes for his spherical objects ...

This might have been such an unfortunate description, but you phrased it beautifully.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:11 PM on February 18, 2013

Fantastic, thanks!
posted by wiskunde at 2:37 PM on February 19, 2013