Museum of Glass

Most folks have heard of the Emerald City made famous in The Wizard of Oz.

While that was city was fictional, there's a very real city in south-central New York nicknamed the Crystal City because of its connection with the glass industry. Perhaps. you already know its name — Corning, NY — or know and have used many of the company's inventions and products. 

This city is where we visited the Corning Museum of Glass, a world-class museum completely dedicated to glass. This visit was the first part of our recent PA road trip which included a visit with long-time blog friend, Linda and husband, Bob. (Details on our meet-up will be in a future post.)

Internet photo as it would not have been possible for me to show its size 

The museum is located in Corning, just north of the Pennsylvania border and is open daily from 9-5. The standard adult admission is $25 with a discounted rate of $22 for senior, military and college students and $12.50 for local residents, free for members and children under 17. General admission is valid for two consecutive days.

Corning Glass Works established the Corning Museum of Glass in 1951 as an educational institution to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the original company which was renamed Corning Inc. in 1989. This is the world’s largest glass museum dedicated completely to glass. Multiple modern buildings that comprise the grounds are all, not unexpectedly, made of glass. Visitors come here worldwide and an estimated 300,000 annually view collections of over 50,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old. The museum is also one of the premier glass working schools in the world.  

Once entering the museum, we were struck by the size of the piece in the center of the lobby, Fern Green Tower by American artist Dale Chihulymade. The glass and steel sculpture was constructed in 1999 and redone in 2013 increasing its height from 11 to 15-1/2 feet. The sculpture was disassembled, cleaned and a steel structure was added. The sculpture was then reassembled with 200 additional blown glass pieces for a total of 712 handmade elements attached to the steel structure. 

In case anyone was curious, the Corning Museum of Glass has never been a showcase for the Corning company or its products. This non-profit institution is dedicated only to preserve and expand the knowledge of a glass through its history, culture, science and design.

Armory Houghton

The history of the city's connection with glass dates to the 1800s. Elias Hungerford, a Corning businessman had a patent for glass window blinds, but there were no glassmaking facilities in the region. Hungerford formed a business partnership withArmory Houghton, owner of the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company. 

If you're wondering why the owner of a Brooklyn-based company would relocate to a small town, the answer is cost. Labor costs were cheaper in Corning than in NY, plus there were natural resources of coal, sand and limestone, all used in glassmaking. A canal and railroad network provided better access to other supplies and sales markets. The company was renamed the Corning Flint Glass Works and later incorporated as Corning Glass Works. 

While the company was being established, lead glass was becoming popular in the American market and Corning, NY, soon became the leading center for this glass style. Multiple cutting firms started as professional glassmakers worldwide spurred the city's growth and reputation. and region. Corning became the center of glass research and became nicknamed the Crystal City.

In 1877, Charles Houghton (son of Armory Houghton) designed and patented a new signal lamp for the railroad that resisted dirt, snow and ice buildup making it a big improvement. In the 1880s. Corning also has a long history producing glass for lighthouses through its work with the Fresnel lens system used in them.

Corning manufactured the glass used in lighthouses

Around the turn of the 20th century, Corning became the country’s leading producer of light bulbs. In 1879, a 32-year old inventor, Thomas Edison, sought the help of Corning Glass Works with his idea for the light bulb. Edison needed the perfect glass to enclose delicate filaments of his incandescent lamps. By 1880, Edison designated Corning as his sole supplier of the glss bulbs.

Full size glass blower sculptures in Coming Museum of Glass

Corning manufactured glass tubes used in primitive versions of the radio and then applied this knowledge to mass produce cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in the early 1940s at the dawn of the TV age. By the 1950s, Corning was the top supplier of CRTs; by the 1960s, the company was producing 100 percent of the world’s TV glass, which included TV bulbs and replacement bulbs.

These events provided financial stability and led the way for glass being used in science and technology.

Tower of 600 glass bowls, Corning Museum of Glass

Corning Glass Works soon was a worldwide leader in glass technology and invented many well known products. Pyrex glassware used in households for baking and in labs. Corning Ware was one that many families, including our own, used daily. Another invention was fiber optics, the vehicle through which light travels and speeds across the internet, connecting people. Corning also developed Gorilla Glass years before it was used for cell phone screens. The company has been involved with everything glass-connected including thermometers, space shuttle windows, telescope and lighthouse lenses. 

Aerial views of 1972 flooding from Hurricane Agnes (Corning Museum of Glass)

On June 23, 1972, Hurricane Agnes severely damaged the museum when the Chemung River overflowed into the streets of Corning, NY. Floodwater rose to 5-1/2 feet on the main floor flooding rare books in the museum's collection. A case of 600 collapsed and the books were covered by mud and shards of glass panes. Half of the entire collection was damaged in the flood; over 500 of the museum's 13,000 objects sustained damage.

Damage to the Corning Museum of Glass library was extensive (Internet source)

Thomas S. Buechner, former museum director labelled this: the greatest single catastrophe borne by an American museum. The damage to exhibits and the library took years to recover; however, the Glass Museum pledged to reopen which it did on August 1, just 39 days after the flooding. The museum also provided financial assistance to help the town and its residents in recovery efforts. (I watched several videos of the widespread flood devastation in Corning, NY. All above photos are from the Corning Museum of Glass.)

Sticker on glass of museum lobby shows flood water height

The museum expanded in 1980 and again in the mid 1990s-2001, when it added a glass blowing studio, the current Contemporary Glass Gallery and Innovation Center. It went through another expansion in 2015 opening the Contemporary Art+Design Wing, currently the largest space in the world dedicated to art and design in glass.

Steuben glassware in Carder Gallery, Corning Museum of Glass

Corning also has a long-standing association with Steuben crystal. The brand was re-acquired by Corning Inc. after being sold and temporarily shut down and was then licensed to The Corning Museum of Glass in 2013. The museum's Carder Gallery is dedicated to Frederick Carder, the English designer who managed Steuben Glass Works from its 1903 founding in 1903 to 1932. The gallery showcases Steuben vases, goblets and other ornamental pieces.

Amphitheater Hot Shop at Corning Museum of Glass (Internet source)

The Steuben factory, once adjacent to the glass museum, was renovated to become the 500-seat Amphitheater Hot Shop, which preserves the footprint of the original factory. The Hot Shop is one of the world’s largest facilities for live glass blowing demos and glass design sessions. We learned how melted sand can be transformed into works of art. Most of the narrated demos are 30 minutes and repeated several times daily. (I was so caught up in the process and "forgot" to take photos.)

The gift store of the Corning Museum of Glass is on the entire lower floor

Many pieces created in Hot Shop demos are sold in the museum's extensive gift store. We toured it, but didn't bring anything home despite seeing a wonderful glass blown penguin at a mere $100, sadly without a frog companion.

We saw a demo on flameworking described as glass working with a 4,000°F torch.

These delicate pieces were created by the process of flameworking

Our recent rainy day visit was a perfect way to enjoy several hours in this museum which is divided into distinct galleries, many of which are permanent. 

Contemporary Art+Design Wing, Corning Museum of Glass

Most of our visit was spent in the Contemporary Art+Design Wing mentioned earlier. The contemporary galleries there feature stark white walls and floors and soaring ceilings with skylights. The main gallery includes 70+ international works from the museum's permanent collection, many are large and visually impressive.

Forest Glass by Lino Tagliapietra, Corning Museum of Glass

Endeavor. a work by Italian glassblower Lino Tagliapietra, that has been viewed as a flock of birds, a school of fish or a fleet of boats. Tagliapietra was inspired by the floating gondolas in Venice  gathering for the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. 

The 80-year old Tagliapietra is a leader of the 20th century Italian glassblowing revival and is considered a master of traditional techniques. His work is known for its elegance, complexity and visual poetry. 

Forest Glass by Katherine Gray, Corning Museum of Glass

Forest Glass by Canadian glass artist Katherine Gray was created from 2,000 found drinking glasses in shades of green and brown. Gray created the piece by collecting glass from thrift shops and stores, then assembling the recycled glass into the shape of trees. Even looking at this piece from several angles, I failed to see the forest.

Here's photos of other exhibits seen in galleries the Contemporary Art+Design Wing. Unfortunately, I didn't get information on the names of these pieces or the skilled artists who created them.

The Mad Hatter, perhaps?

There was no car or more tires, only a single glass tire

A unique offering for visitors to the Corning Museum of Glass is the chance to try glassmaking at The Make Your Own Glass studio. The studio is in a separate walkable facility from the museum. Visitors working under the guidance of experienced glass blowers could select a glass design and try glass blowing, fusing and sandblasting. 

Each project was completed by a single person, safety equipment was provided and required. At the time of our visit, participants could elect to create a pendant, ornament or small glass pumpkin for which cost ranged from $30 to $40. From what we saw, experienced personnel did most of the work and participants did more watching than actual hands-on. Those ovens were really hot! We only watched.

This has been dubbed the world's largest glass pumpkin weighing in at 70 pounds with a circumference of 97 inches. It was said to have taken 50 hours and several failed attempts until its 2009 successful creation. It was made by the museum's Hot Glass team which also presents daily glass blowing demos.

After Thoughts — This week, I starting thinking of word combinations with glass in them and here's just a few: glass slipper, magnifying glass, glass house, glass jaw, sea glass, spy glass, safety glass, broken glass, looking glass, stained glass, shot glass, cut glass, optical glass, shattered glass, glass ceiling, glassy eyed, under glass.

Also, thought of phrases that include the word glass, like: glass half full (or empty), through the looking glass, through a glass darkly, looking through rose-colored glasses, raise your glass, smooth as glass, live in a glass house, a glass in every half pound (Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate ad), bottle and glass (Cockney rhyming slang for arse) — there's others and most likely you know some as well.

Glass has become part of our everyday lives not only in form and function, but language too.