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Summer Hours
(Now through Sept. 5)
Mon., Fri. & Sat.
10 am – 4 pm
Tues., Wed. & Thurs.
10 am – 7 pm
CLOSED Sunday
Visiting Artists & Instructors
Pittsburgh Glass Center attracts an exciting and diverse roster of glass artists from outside of the region to teach in our studios each year.
If you are interested in joining this dynamic line-up of instructors at PGC, contact Heather McElwee at 412-365-2145 ext.206.
Meet our Visiting Artists & Instructors
John Miller
July 2
John R. Miller began working in glass in 1987 at Southern Connecticut State University and received his MFA in sculpture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. He has been on staff at Pilchuck Glass School since 1993 in various positions including technician, coordinator, gaffer and instructor. In 1998 he was awarded the C.G.C.A. Fellowship at Wheaton Village in Millville, NJ. He exhibits his work and lectures locally and nationally.
In this exhibition, Miller will showcase his larger-than-life blown glass works. Miller says, "I try to find an equilibrium between the intensity of glass blowing and the humor which can be found in art and the art-making process."
Dolly Ahles
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Dolly Ahles graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and has been lampworking since 1997. Dolly currently teaches lampworking at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona, a position she’s held for seven years. Her award-winning lampworked glass art reflects her strong interest in floral patterns and the delicate forms and diversity of nature.
Eoin Breadon
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Having worked and trained in glass studios in Ireland, Australia, and the United States, Eóin Breadon works in the tradition of the seanchaí, the traditional Irish storyteller, who are responsible for the transmission of Celtic culture, the history and laws of the people that were not written down, but memorized in long lyric poems which were recited.
Breadon received his MFA in glass from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2004 and is shown and collected internationally by galleries and museums. For the past 5 years he served as a member of the sculpture and glass faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art and now resides and works in Southern California.
Joe Cariati
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Joe Cariati currently teaches glassblowing at California State University Fullerton. He has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Rhode Island School of Design, Fresno and San Francisco State Universities and CCA in Oakland. He owns and operates Joe Cariati Glass in Los Angeles. Joe Cariati and Adam Holtzinger have worked and taught together over the past five years, most recently at The Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.
View his Web siteHolly Cooper
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Working out of her studio in Austin TX, Holly has been a professional artist her entire working career.With a background in painting, art history, textiles, ceramics, jewelry and finally glass, her work melds all of these disparate disciplines into her complex decorative work. She draws inspiration from a variety of cultural and historical traditions and incorporates them into her intricate glass beads.
Paul Cunningham
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Paul was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and began his glass career in 1984 at The Glass Eye Studio. After working his way up from the shipping department, he began to learn the art of blowing glass. Three years later, he had the opportunity to become a member of Dale Chihuly's team. This experience exposed Paul to a number of skilled glassmakers and artists, including two of his personal favorites Benjamin Moore and Lino Tagliapietra. After working and traveling with Chihuly for three years, Paul was asked by Benjamin Moore to work with him at his studio. Over the next ten years at Benjamin Moore, Inc., Paul was part of a team that was contracted out to work with such well known artists as Dante Marioni, Richard Royal, Dick Marquis, Dick Weiss and Dan Dailey. In 2001, Paul ventured out on his own and operated Cunningham Glass from April of 2001 until June 2008. He currently works for Manifesto Corporation in Seattle. He has taught Venetian glassblowing techniques at Pilchuck Glass Studio, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Urban Glass in New York. In addition to being commissioned for custom lighting projects, Paul continues to develop new bodies of work that are shown in galleries nationwide. His work is held in many private and public collections, including those of Elton John, the American Craft Museum in New York City and The Glas Museum in Ebeltoft, Denmark.
Einar and Jamex De La Torre
Summer 2010
Learn about their 2010 Class at PGC
Mexican-born artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre are brothers and artistic collaborators, who moved to the United States from Guadalajara, Jalisco in the early 1970's. Leaving behind the academic, religious and social rigors of an all-boys Catholic school in 1960's Guadalajara, the de la Torre brothers ended up in the small Southern California surf town of Dana Point, where they discovered the unbridled joys of co-ed public schools.
While attending California State University at Long Beach in the 80's, they studied sculpture and glass blowing, during which time the artist-brothers began a flame-worked glass figure business. This business was quickly eclipsed when their artistic collaboration began in earnest in the late 1980's with small mix media works. In the late 1990's, they began to do large-scale sculptural installations, eventually branching out into commissioned site-specific and public art projects.
Currently, the brothers live and work on both sides of the San Diego-Baja California border, enjoying a bi-national life style that very much informs their art. Einar and Jamex de la Torre have worked, taught and exhibited both nationally, as well as internationally. Their distinctive three-dimensional work can be found in galleries, museum collections, Museum catalogs, as well as in various public art installations.
Darin Denison
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Darin was born in NY, and moved to Seattle in 1992. He attended the Art Institute of Seattle, graduated with an audio engineering degree. He started blowing glass in 1995. Studio trained, and apprenticed with Martin Blank and Scott Darlington, respectively. Since that time, he has had the pleasure of working with countless people within the Seattle glass community. He has worked with Paul Cunningham for 6 years. He currently works for Nancy Callan, Lino Tagliapietra, and himself.
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Cleo Dunsmore
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Anne Cleo Dunsmore studied fine arts at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Maryland and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from American University in 1991. She was a member of the Artists Gallery in Frederick, 2003-4. Cleo altered eighteen Barbie dolls in various ways, leading to The Poison of Perfectionism Show, which used Barbie dolls to show the forces that lead to addiction, self-harm, and eating disorders. Cleo taught at the Delaplaine Visual Arts and Education Center in Frederick, Maryland. Cleo presented her glass techniques used to create realistic trout beads at the 2009 ISGB Gathering in Miami, Florida. She is a studio professional, specializing in North American Trout, Char and Koi, and other wild and domestic animals.
Susan Taylor Glasgow
Summer 2009
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Glasgow studied Design at the University of Iowa. Now a resident of Columbia, Missouri, her studio is a wonderful old 1930's house in downtown Columbia that she and her husband rescued from demolition. She is a 2002 recipient of the Pilchuck Glass School emerging artists grant, a Wheaton Village fellow in fall of 2003, and a visiting artist at several community schools in Columbia. Her work is included in several museums world wide, including the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.
Visit Susan's Web SiteAdam Holtzinger
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Adam Holtzinger currently works as lead gaffer and assistant designer for Niche Modern design company. He has taught at Pilchuck Glass School, The Studio at Corning, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Penland School of Crafts, and Osaka Art Institue. He currently teaches at Urban Glass in New York.
Joe Cariati and Adam Holtzinger have worked and taught together over the past five years, most recently at The Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.
John Kobuki
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
John began lampworking in 1995. By 1999, he was making marbles full time. He won first place in the marble category in the first annual Eugene Flame Off in 2003.
He has demonstrated at various locations worldwide including Wheaton Village NJ at Marble Weekend; International Lampworking Festival in Kobe, Japan; 2nd annual Borosilicate Art Expo in Tokyo, Japan; Japan Lampworking Festival in Nagara, Japan and the 3rd annual Borosilicate Art Expo in Yokohama, Japan. Additionally, he has taught in teh US, Japan and Europe.
Since 2000, he has concentrated all of his effort on the “compression” technique in borosilicate glass. He enjoys discovering how to translate forms in nature into marbles.
Denise Stillwaggon Leone
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Denise Stillwaggon Leone studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She designs and fabricates architectural art glass commissions for site-specific installations, and has participated in numerous private and public art competitions. Her work can be found in public spaces of universities, hospitals, libraries and places of worship. She creates autonomous glass sculptures that have been shown internationally and published in New Glass Review and 25 Years of New Glass Review. She has been teaching Painting the Void, an image-making course combining sandblasting and vitreous painting for over a decade at the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, and her work is in the Museum’s permanent collection.
Jeremy Lepisto
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Jeremy Lepisto is a studio glass artist who has recently relocated to Canberra Australia from Portland, Oregon. He creates works that use imagery inspired by his everyday surroundings to explore the complex in the common and to comment on the condition of the spaces that we all share. In 2001, he co-founded Studio Ramp LLC with his wife and partner Mel George. Studio Ramp LLC is a custom kiln forming fabrication studio that translates artists and architects designs into glass from concept to completion. Jeremy has taught kiln forming classes and workshops in the U.S. and internationally. He worked at the Bullseye Glass factory in both their glass production and Research and Education departments. Jeremy received his BFA in glass and metals from Alfred University in 1997. He is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Glass Art Society.
Jay Macdonell
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Jay Macdonell is a classically trained glassblower has worked for many Pacific Northwest studios and artists as a gaffer, design consultant and project manager.
He has taught at various schools including Espace Verre, Bay Area Glass Institute and Pilchuck Glass School. He has been a gaffer for Pilchuck in many capacities for artists such as Xu Bing, Jiri Harcuba, Barbera Cooper, Heather Oakson and Angelo Filmeno. He has been artist in residence at the Museum Of Glass in Tacoma, The Bay Area Glass Institute and ACAD. His work is in many private collections such as Elton John, the Bronfman family’s Clairage collection and also The Museum of Glass and the Montreal Museum’s permanent collection.
Jeff Mack
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Jeff mack is the manager of the glass studio at The Toledo Museum of Art. He has worked in glass for 15 years in contexts including master glass blower, factory stem maker, artist's assistant and gaffer for internationally recognized artists. Jeff has keen interest in the study of historic glass making techniques and has devoted much of his study and work in glass to this topic. He has taught extensively, demonstrated internationally, and his work can be found in galleries and collections throughout the World.
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Robert Mickelsen
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Born in 1951 in Fort Belvoir , Virginia and raised in Honolulu , Hawaii , Robert's formal education ended after one year of college. He apprenticed with a professional lampworker for two years in the mid-seventies and then sold his own designs at outdoor craft fairs for ten years. In 1987 he took a class from Paul Stankard that opened his eyes to the possibilities of his medium. In 1989, he stopped doing craft shows and began marketing his work exclusively through galleries. Since then, his career has taken off. He shows his work in some of the finest galleries in the country and participates in prominent exhibitions each year. His work is exhibited in many prominent collections including the Renwick Gallery of American Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corning Museum of Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village , and the Pilchuck Glass School.
He has taught extensively at the major glass schools including the Pilchuck Glass School , Penland School of Crafts, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, and The Eugene Glass School. He has filmed and produced two videos on his flameworking process, and he has designed and maintains an elaborate web page dedicated to his own work and the galleries that represent him. He has published numerous technical and historical articles on flameworked glass. He served for six years on the board of directors of the Glass Art Society and was their treasurer and vice-president.
Janis Miltenberger
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Janis began working in glass in1978 as a glassblowing apprentice to Richard Marquis. College studies in both glass blowing and ceramics have informed her lampworking skills and gave her a unique approach to the material. She believes that what ever we have done and do influences our art and becomes relevant to the material. After 16 years of blowing glass Janis was introduced to Lampworking at Pilchuck Glass School studying with Susan Plum, James Minson and Cesare Toffiolo. Finding torch work more autonomous than furnace work, the solitude allowing her to focus and define her voice. Janis divides her time between making larger scale gallery pieces, production work and teaching.
James Minson
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
James is a third generation glass worker. His grandparents met at the Osram glassworks in London and later established the Minson Scientific Glass Company in Sydney.
He has degrees from Sydney College of the Arts and Tama Art University in Tokyo, and a Master of Arts degree in psychology and art therapy from Antioch University, Seattle. He was staff at the Niijima Glass Art Center in 1990. In 2002 he established the “Minson Esquela De Vidrio” glass studio at the Misioneros Del Camino home for orphaned, abandoned and malnourished children in Sumpango, Guatemala.
He has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, Pratt Fine Arts Center, Urban Glass, Espace Verre in Montreal, The Studio at Corning Glass Center, The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Touchstone Center for Crafts and The Glass Furnace in Turkey.
His work is represented in public and private collections worldwide.
Nick Mount
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Nick Mount has been in the vanguard of the Australian hot-glass movement since he was introduced to the medium in 1974. He has worked primarily as a private, studio-based designer and glassblower and he is noted for his skills as a designer and a maker, as well as for his participation in major international exhibitions.
Kirstie Rea
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Kirstie has taught in her field of kiln formed glass and cold working techniques across the world since 1987. Between1987 -2003 she was a lecturer at the Glass Workshop, Australian National University. Over the past 23 years Kirstie has continued to develop her practice and career to become internationally recognised and respected for her works in glass and was the inaugural Creative Director at the Canberra Glassworks.
She has exhibited widely internationally and her works has been included in collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Australia and the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation in Munich Germany.
Mielle Riggie
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
The relationship between humans and the natural world is imprinted on the rural landscape. Mielle Riggie spent her first 18 years within the Vermont countryside and her artwork continually reflects issues of balance and bridges as she combines disparate materials and elements to illustrate the push and pull of humans with their internal and external surroundings. Mielle has just returned to New England. Seattle was her home for ten years largely in order to work with Pilchuck Glass School and Northwest artists. Mielle earned her BFA from Alfred University, Alfred, NY in 1997 and her MFA through the University of Washington Fibers program in 2007. In 2009 Mielle was honored with exhibiting work in BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass and enjoying a residency at The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass.
Nathan Sandberg
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Nathan Sandberg was born in Jamestown, New York and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Glass and Ceramics from the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He has exhibited across the US including a solo exhibition at Portland State University's Autzen Gallery. Nathan has worked as an instructor and technician in Bullseye Glass Company's Research and Education department since 2005.
"While documenting the supposedly accidental arrangements of texture, form and color that we encounter on a daily basis I am celebrating the ones that sit respectfully in the background. Quiet and often overlooked, it is my hope that more people than just I will notice and appreciate them." - Nathan Sandberg
Ed Schmid
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Ed Schmid has been working with hot glass since 1984. He received his B.F.A. in Glass from the University of Illinois- at Champaign/Urbana in 1987, and his M.F.A. in Glass from The Ohio State University in 1990.
Ed is the author of "Beginning Glassblowing" and "Advanced Glassworking Techniques," the world’s best selling books on how to blow glass. He recently finished a new book: “The Glassworker’s Bathroom Reader,” all about the life and times of the contemporary glassmaker.
Ed spends nearly half his year teaching classes and workshops in glassblowing at Universities, colleges, and private studios all across the globe. The rest of his time is devoted to his family and some work in the studio or on various writing projects.
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Michael Schunke
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Michael Schunke lives, works and plays in West Grove, Pennsylvania. He began glassblowing while at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, graduating in 1991. Michael was Visiting Professor at Toyama Institute of Glass, Toyama, Japan for two and half years. His work is in the permanent collections of the Ebeltoft Museum of Glass and the Toyama Museum of Glass. He is a past fellow at the Creative Glass Center of America in Milville, New Jersey and currently serves on its board. He currently owns and operates Nine Iron Studios, Inc., producing limited production pieces, private commissions and one of a kind sculpture.
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, a past board member of the Glass Art Society (1982-86) and an Honorary Life Member, served as the first woman president from 1984-86. Her work in glass and mixed media, architectural glass, hot glass and public art is included in many private collections and public institutions including the LA County Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Oakland Museum of California, the Museum of Arts and Design, NY, and City of Los Angeles among others.
She taught at the Pilchuck Glass School for eighteen years and has been a visiting artist at RISD, Tyler School of Art, CA College of the Arts, Cal State Fullerton, Massachusetts College of Art, Ohio and Illinois Universities, and numerous other glass and public art conferences.
A Trustee Emeritus of The American Craft Council, she currently serves as Chair of the Arts Commission for the City of Ojai, CA. She is a past recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the Pilchuck Glass School Hauberg Fellowship, the 2007 Libensky Award, and 2006 Artist Residencies at Pilchuck and the Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington.
In her review from Glass Quarterly for Stinsmuehlen-Amend’s 2007 solo exhibition at D&A Fine Arts in Los Angeles, Annie Buckley writes about recent work:
“Words and images are frozen in place, suspended in the solid glass as unmoving as an obsessive worry or a tune you can’t get out of your head. Whether a pop song or the memory of a whisper, Stinsmuehlen-Amend’s work functions like a visual soundtrack, mapping the unpredictable rhythms of thought.”
Boyd Sugiki
Summer 2010
Learn about his 2010 Class at PGC
Boyd Sugiki has a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and a MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. He has taught at the Glass Furnace, Haystack, Kookmin University, Penland, Pilchuck, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pratt Fine Arts Center, RISD, Toyama, and University of Hawaii.
Corina Tettinger
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Corina Tettinger has been making beads for 10 years, she is best known (and loved) (?) as author of "Passing The Flame", an instructional book often referred to as "The Beadmaking Bible". (this is true!) Corina's relaxed and enthusiastic teaching style has made her a popular instructor on only throughout the United States, but also in Australia, Japan and many European countries. Particularly known for excellent stringer control and cheerful use of color Corina's goal in teaching is to enable her students to master many beadmaking techniques to be able to develop their own style - and to remember foremost that beadmaking is about having fun.
Lisa Zerkowitz
Summer 2010
Learn about her 2010 Class at PGC
Lisa Zerkowitz received her MA in Art Education from Rhode Island School of Design while simultaneously completing the undergraduate program in glass. She has taught at Penland, Pilchuck, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and RISD.
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