Molten Masterpiece
Robert Benton adjusts his safety glasses and sits patiently behind a short wooden barrier as glassblowing instructor Jackie positions a blob of molten glass on the end of a metal tube.
“All right,” says Jackie once she’s satisfied that everything is in order. “Blow!” And with that, four-year-old Robert begins crafting his very own blown-glass artwork.
The sight of young children in the glass workshop is no rarity at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, where trained instructors work individually with visitors as young as 3 to teach them how to blow their own ornaments. Older visitors create glass flowers, beads or sun catchers. It’s all part of the museum’s effort to offer something for everyone when it comes to glass.
Part art gallery, science museum, craft studio and shopping center, the Corning Museum of Glass was founded in 1951 and has grown to become Corning’s most popular tourist attraction. The museum’s glass galleries — the world’s largest — display prehistoric Egyptian glass, opalescent Roman vessels, finely etched medieval German goblets, Art Deco stained glass and abstract contemporary artworks. Other exhibits showcase glass innovations like cookware and light bulbs and reveal the science behind glass breaking and fiber optics.
Finally, the museum’s Hot Glass show brings art and science together before a 2,300-degree furnace. Master craftsmen melt, mold and blow molten glass in front of a live audience, explaining the process and creating some of the glassworks sold downstairs in the GlassMarket, one of the nation’s largest museum gift shops.
The Corning Museum of Glass charges admission, but is always free for visitors age 19 and under.
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