Multimedia sculptor Layo Bright has received the 2023 Ron Desmett Memorial Award for Imagination with Glass. She will receive a $2,500 cash award and time in PGC’s studios to create a new body of glass works that explore narratives and material cultures of the African diaspora and Black feminism.
Pittsburgh Glass Center and the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) have launched the first virtual glassblowing experience. PGC worked with a team of ETC graduate students over 15 weeks to design a virtual experience that educates, engages, and inspires middle and high students about the glassmaking process.
Over 100 friends and glass art appreciators turned up to help us celebrate our groundbreaking on March 23.
This month a group of Pittsburgh Glass Center supporters and glass art appreciators, led by Executive Director Heather McElwee and Operations Director Chris Clarke, traveled to Italy for a special glass art collectors’ tour of Venice and Murano. Here is PGC Board Liaison Merriann Grant’s account of her experience.
Over 62% of our instructors, students, and employees are women. Any day you walk into our glass studios you will find strong, smart, creative women leading the way. Happy International Women’s Day to all of the strong, creative, and talented women in glass. Where would we be without you?
Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) is glowing up and breaking ground on a $15 million renovation of its current 16,000-square-foot facility.
AK Kurtz, a Michigan-born artist and PGC’s Visitor Services Coordinator, is often the first person you meet when you walk into Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC). Now through February 28, you can view their screenprinting and glass sculptures across the street at Commonplace Coffee in an exhibition presented in conjunction with Evolve Coaching.
Here’s a roundup of our top ten hottest achievements over the past year!
PGC artists and staff spent the summer creating collaborative glass mosaics with the community, which were incorporated into the new Highland Park Super Playground.
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Hot Shop ActivitiesWith the help of an instructor, participants will learn how to transform 2,000°F molten glass into a unique glass artwork. Sculpted items will be manipulated and shaped with various metal hand tools. Blown items will be inflated via a flexible tube attached to a blow pipe. The Hot Shop, as the name might suggest, can get warm at times, particularly during summer months. That being said, the activity will only take about 10-15 minutes per person so you won’t be warm for long. We encourage our guests to wear lighter, natural material clothing for safety and comfort. Visitors are welcome to bring water bottles and a water fountain/filling station is available. These activities will involves sitting, standing, and walking around. Suitable for ages 5 and up. |
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Kiln Shop Fusing ActivitiesCombine brilliantly colored pieces of glass granules and thin glass strands to create a one-of-a-kind luminous fused glass artwork. Once you design it, we’ll fire it, so that all pieces become one. Participants will work seated in our climate-controlled Classroom and with room temperature pieces of glass. You will begin with a glass tile that acts as your “canvas,” then arrange the colorful glass granules and thin glass strands into a design of your choosing. Once the designs are complete, suncatchers are placed in a kiln overnight to melt (fuse) together forever. Suitable for ages 5 and up. |
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Flame Shop ActivitiesWith the help of an instructor, participants will learn how to use tools and a tabletop torch to melt and manipulate glass rods and transform them into truly one-of-a-kind objects. These activities take place in our climate controlled Flame Shop, which involves working with a flame, but is not nearly as warm as our Hot Shop. Participants will be sitting at a workstation, making this option slightly more accessible and less physically demanding. Suitable for ages 8 and up. |
