Glassblowing

with Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez
GLASS 681 001 | 3 credits | $350 Lab Fee
May 26 - June 8, 2024

This course will cover the fundamentals of glassblowing and is designed to develop a student’s foundational knowledge and skill upon which more advanced ideas can be built. Students will learn to gather hot glass out of the furnace and how to manipulate it with a variety of tools and techniques in both the hot shop and the cold shop. Productive practices including working as a team, timing and choreography, and using natural elements to execute ideas will be demonstrated. This course may include a screening of Glassmakers of Herat. We will investigate glassblowing from a historical approach and look at objects from different periods in history, including works made by Pino Signoretto, Bill Gudenrath, and Karen Willinbrink-Johnsen. Assignments will range from functional cup making, executing complex abstractions, and methods for coloring and patterning. This course will culminate in the completion of a student designed sculpture or installation to be exhibited in the hot shop.

Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez (b. 1988, she/her) combines poetry, images, blown glass and neon lights to create layered installations that draw inspiration from her Puerto Rican and Persian heritage. Both joyful cultural traditions and the challenges of immigration and diaspora are reflected through objects that memorialize interpersonal connections. Victoria has been awarded artist residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, the Corning Museum of Glass and Blue Mountain Center, among others. Dozens of galleries and museums in the United States and abroad have exhibited her work, including Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, S12 Gallery, BWA Wroclaw, Heller Gallery, Traver Gallery and the Tacoma Museum of Glass. Her sculptures are included in New Glass Review #33, #38 and #42, annual journals documenting innovative artworks in the material. Victoria lives in Philadelphia and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Tyler School of Art, from which she received her BFA in Glass. She holds an MFA in Craft/Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Glass Multiples

with Christen Baker & Priscilla Lo
GLASS 651 001 | 3 credits | $350 Lab Fee
June 9 - 22, 2024

This introductive and investigative class will explore the creative possibilities for making multiples in glass through casting. We will learn three methods of glass forming: low relief hot casting, high relief kiln casting, and hollow form hot blow molds. In addition to these casting techniques, students will learn basic glass blowing methods including gathering on rods and how to utilize tools to press hot glass. Using these skills and techniques students will learn to reproduce surface, texture, and form and will be encouraged to creatively consider repetition and pattern through glass. Looking at the work of Beth Lipman, Layo Bright, Fred Kahl, and Thaddeus Wolfe will facilitate discussions in critical theory and artistic practice, as it applies to mold making in glass. In addition to assignments designed to gain understanding of the casting techniques focused on in the course, students will propose a final project to be installed at Ox-Bow and shared with the community. This course is open to students of all levels.

Christen Baker is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the complex relationship between the economy of attention and desire, and information architecture. In exploring the intersection of technology, media, and visual art, Baker utilizes glass, neon, photography and 3d scanning to create a new visual lexicon that speaks to the subtle and often indirect ways in which attention and desire shape our perception of the world around us. Baker earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art and Architecture. She was a lecturer in Ceramics and Kiln-Formed Glass at Kansas City Art Institute and has completed residencies at UrbanGlass Window Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, Belger Arts in Kansas City, MO, and the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary and was awarded the Leroy Nieman Fellowship in Glass at Oxbow School of Art and Artist Residency. She currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, where she continues to explore the geographies of public spaces and objects, real and imagined.

As a child of a Chinese immigrant family in North America, Priscilla Lo was perpetually reminded to be practical about her future. But after over a decade as a health care professional, she began to feel dissatisfied with the direction of her life. Priscilla turned to creative outlets to find a voice and explore her identity as a woman of color. She is drawn to glass because it is constantly in a state of fragility and permanency. Using this paradoxical nature of glass and pop culture icons of her childhood, she considers her individuality though the lens of her cultural upbringing. Through her work, she aims to spark discourse about socially fixed racial frameworks. She is also interested in incorporating new technology like 3d rendering, digital processes, and different glass techniques in her artist practice. Priscilla has shown her work in various galleries internationally, and at the Chinese American Museum in Chicago. She has a degree from Sheridan College and an MFA from Illinois State University and is currently the Resident Artist and an adjunct professor at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Dinner Party

with Corey Pemberton
GLASS 676 001 | 3 credits | $350 Lab Fee
June 23 - July 6, 2024

There’s nothing more satisfying than eating and drinking from handmade wares with friends. This course, open to students of all levels, will focus on establishing a strong foundation in form and function in service of manipulating molten glass into items for a communal table setting. We will learn the processes involved in making objects including drinkware, pitchers, serving bowls, plates, and candlesticks and consider the works of Judy Chicago, Beth Lipman, and Joe Cariati. Underscoring the social nature of the glassblowing process in the studio, our objective will be to create a tablescape to use for a social mixer at the end of the class, bringing everyone together to celebrate one another’s hard work and individuality. Students need only bring a good attitude, an open mind, and a hunger to learn!

Corey Pemberton (American b. Reston, VA 1990) received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. He has completed residencies at The Pittsburgh Glass Center (PA), Bruket (Bodø, NO), Alfred University (NY), as well as a Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts (NC). He has exhibited work at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (CA), The Contemporary Museum of Art in Raleigh (NC), and has work in the permanent collections of The Museum of Art and Design (NY), The Boston Museum of Fine Art (MA), and The Chrysler Museum of Art (VA). Pemberton currently resides in Los Angeles, California where he splits his time between the nonprofit arts organization Crafting the Future, painting, and his glass practice. He strives to bring together people of all backgrounds and identities, breaking down stereotypes and building bridges; not only through his work with Crafting The Future but with his personal artistic practice as well.

Glassblowing

with Yashodhar Reddy & Will Hutchinson
GLASS 681 002 | 3 credits | $350 Lab Fee
July 15 - 27, 2024

This course will cover the fundamentals of glassblowing and is designed to develop a student’s foundational knowledge and skill upon which more advanced ideas can be built. Students will learn to gather hot glass out of the furnace and how to manipulate it with a variety of tools and techniques in both the hot shop and the cold shop. Productive practices including working as a team, timing and choreography, and using natural elements to execute ideas will be demonstrated. This course may include readings from Ed Schmidt’s Beginning Glassblowing and a screening of Glassmakers of Herat. We will investigate glassblowing from a historical approach and look at objects from different periods in history, including works made by Pino Signoretto, Bill Gudenrath, and Karen Willinbrink-Johnsen. Assignments will range from functional cup making, executing complex abstractions, and methods for coloring and patterning. This course will culminate in the completion of a student designed sculpture or installation to be exhibited in the hot shop.

Yashodhar Reddy is an Indian-American glass artist from Central Pennsylvania. His work focuses on the traditional aspects of glass craft and design from a functional viewpoint. Refining form and technique through the study of tableware, lighting fixtures, and abstract sculpture. He draws inspiration from the aesthetics of historical glass objects, with the intention of rendering his works with more relevant and personal styles. His education began at Harrisburg Area Community College where he was introduced to the medium and from there continued to travel the world to study with prestigious glass artists such as Raven Skyriver, Kelly O’Dell, Darin Denison, and Davide Fuin. He has a diverse working experience ranging from design studios such as Niche Modern and AO Glassworks to educational organizations such as the prestigious Corning Museum of Glass, where he has been on the team of many reputable artists such as Swedish maker, Fredrik Nielsen and Head of Glass at SIU, Jiyong Lee. He was previously working at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist’s Residency as Glass Studio Manager. Since his time away from Ox-Bow he is continuing his education, working as an apprentice glassmaker in Venice, Italy for one of the last few living Masters in Murano, Italy, a small island located in the Venetian lagoon that is well renowned for its centuries long artistic glass making history.

Will Hutchinson holds an MFA in sculpture from The University of Montana and BFA in drawing from The Art Academy of Cincinnati. He is a former smokejumper and all around adventurer. Invested in the truth of experience, his practice is mainly focused on functional objects that attempt to facilitate and enhance experiences from the mundane to the extraordinary. Currently Will works as a full time knife-maker and teaches glassblowing workshops in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.

Multi-Level Glassblowing

with Hoseok Youn
GLASS 641 001 | 1.5 credits | $175 Lab Fee
July 28 - August 3, 2024

A hands-on studio workshop for those with some glassblowing experience. Students will learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass” into vessel or sculptural forms. Lectures, demonstrations, videos, and critiques will augment studio instruction.

Hoseok Youn is a South Korean glass artist specializing in glassblowing. Youn holds his B.F.A. degree in glass and ceramic major from Namseoul University, Cheon Ahn, Korea and earned a M.F.A. in glass from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois, USA. He has worked at Toledo Museum of Art and taught at Bowling Green State University as an adjunct professor. Hoseok is currently a studio lead and educator at Belger Art Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Youn’s work has received various scholarships and awards including Corning Museum of Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Penland School of Craft, Niijima Glass Center, Pilchuck Glass School, and Glass Art Society. He is 2023 SAXE Emerging Artist Award recipient of Glass Art Society and he was resident artist at Museum of Glass Tacoma in 2023. His work has been exhibited broadly and internationally in Illinois, Missouri, Texas, California, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, Indiana, China, Italy, and Poland.

Flameworking: Finding Form in Translation

with Carmen Lozar
GLASS 649 001 | 1.5 credits | $175 Lab Fee
August 4 - 10, 2024

This class is an introduction to working and thinking with glass. Focused on contextualizing flameworking within contemporary sculpture, this workshop is ideal for artists crossing over from other disciplines who would like to translate their ideas into glass. The goal of the class is to complete two finished sculptures, which are both structurally sound and conceptually tight. Blending traditional and unconventional flameworking techniques, students are encouraged to explore the material and expand their artistic vocabulary. We will consider the material qualities of glass in the context of drawing, painting, sculpture, and performance. Students can use glass as an opportunity to connect materiality to related disciplines such as literature, psychology, optics, poetry, and architecture. The coursework will include a combination of technical exercises designed to improve hand skills, contextual presentations, and group critique.

Carmen Lozar is a glass artist and a faculty member of the Ames School of Art at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. During summers she often travels to teach and share her love for glass - most recently to England, Turkey, Italy, and New Zealand but always returns to her Midwestern roots. A BFA graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she completed her post-graduate degree at Alfred University, New York, and is represented by Ken Saunders Gallery in Chicago. She is included the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design(MAD) in NY, The Museum of Glass, WA and the Bergstom Mahler Museum in WI.

Glassblowing

with Ekin Aytac & Joshua Davids
GLASS 681 003 | 3 credits | $350 Lab Fee
August 11 - 24, 2024

This course will cover the fundamentals of glassblowing and is designed to develop a student’s foundational knowledge and skill upon which more advanced ideas can be built. Students will learn to gather hot glass out of the furnace and how to manipulate it with a variety of tools and techniques in both the hot shop and the cold shop. Productive practices including working as a team, timing and choreography, and using natural elements to execute ideas will be demonstrated. This course may include readings from Ed Schmidt’s Beginning Glassblowing and a screening of Glassmakers of Herat. We will investigate glassblowing from a historical approach and look at objects from different periods in history, including works made by Pino Signoretto, Bill Gudenrath, and Karen Willinbrink-Johnsen. Assignments will range from functional cup making, executing complex abstractions, and methods for coloring and patterning. This course will culminate in the completion of a student designed sculpture or installation to be exhibited in the hot shop.

Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids are a collective husband and wife team of artists creating glass sculpture. Hailing from Edremit, Turkey and Colorado, USA respectively, this dynamic duo draws from a unique combination of culture, heritage, and experience to elicit profound expression in new works of glass art. Drawing on both modern and ancient mythos as well as their own meditations on the causal relationship between set and setting, the artists weave a new visual tapestry of form, light, and color. Shared interests in the glass medium, architectural and geometric pattern, nature, and narrative help guide the formal elements of their explorations in sculptural objects. In their work, traditional vessel forms are manipulated into unconventional objects used to evoke landscapes viewed from a unique perspective. A variety of hot glass color applications, diamond cutting, and sand engraving coalesce and together represent the visual rhythms of a world we inhabit together.