Page 7: Corning Museum of Glass

October and November 2011

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In addition to the wineries and the waterfalls, there are some museums in the area. We only went to one of these, the Corning Museum of Glass. The museum is well done, and we easily spent 5 hours there. We saw some of their demonstrations but we did not try making our own glass.

We started with a special exhibit of a glass artist Toots Zynsky. They had interesting film on her process, which uses many rods of glass.

Striped glass vessel with black, orange, mint, and lavender threads displayed in the museum

Glowing red and black flared glass vessel displayed under dramatic lighting

Then there was a section with modern glass art. We liked this luminescent Red Pyramid. I couldn't resist mimicking some of the modern paintings we have seen, although I like my photo better, with it's glow.

Red Pyramid glass sculpture glowing in a bright gallery beside a translucent white dress form

Close-up of the glowing textured seam across the Red Pyramid glass sculpture

Another somewhat abstract picture:

Close view of translucent pale pink glass elements hanging in a modern installation

This evening dress statue was lovely.

Glass evening dress sculpture displayed in the museum gallery

One of the signs in the museum depicts glass blowing.

White relief sculpture of a glassblower blowing into a long pipe with a glass bubble at the end

The examples of glass work range from antiquity to yesterday. This bowl is from Rome around 30 B.C., but would be just as at home in a modern house.

Decorative glass bowl with intricate brown, white, and colored millefiori-style patterns

Probably the single most beautiful item in the collection is a plaque by George Woodall, from 1884, called "Origin of Painting". You really have to see it in person to appreciate how lovely it is.

Large circular glass plaque showing a classical seated figure with Cupid in white cameo relief