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.
New this year! Our annual holiday glass sale will be a special pop-up shop at Handmade Arcade, the region’s largest holiday market! This is an exclusive opportunity to shop for one-of-a-kind handmade glass gifts from many different Pittsburgh glass artists, with many items made especially for Handmade Arcade. Plus, watch exciting live hot glass demos at our Hot Wheels mobile furnace.
Through a partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools, every PPS sixth grade class is invited to come get hands-on experience with glass free-of-charge. By the end of 2022 nearly 500 sixth graders in Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) tried glass here at Pittsburgh Glass Center. Next year, we’re expecting 900 more students!
Glass Art: We teach it. We create it. We promote it. We support those who make it.
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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. |
