Visiting The Corning Museum of Art

Enjoying the Corning Museum the best way possible... with family. We got to stroll through the store, make a sand blasted plate, and watch two glass demonstrations. The first was a glass blowing demonstration with a team making a beautiful cobalt blue vase. One of the gentlemen narrated the whole process as they worked in unison. Glass making is not an easy thing to do no matter how much of this abounds. It requires an exorbitant amount of heat, tolerance to it, teamwork, creativity, and experience.

This was followed by lunch and an extended demonstration which included a blow torch and a very cool penguin decked out in shades, a tie, and bright orange feet . Naturally the penguin was on paper and had been designed by a very creative 11 year old who won a designers contest. Unfortunately, the young lady wasn't on hand to see her intriguing creation become a reality. My daughter, two granddaughters, about 20 other people, and myself were. The artist had this rather large blow torch which gushed a fiery flame heated up to 3000 degrees. Then he grabbed a solid cylinder of glass which he placed in the churning flame until it bent and became malleable. In order to save color he would work with the clear glass as a base and then coat it with solid color. I have to admit that I got tired 3/4 of the way through the demonstration not so much with the process but from standing. The activity originally was going to take 15 minutes and extended to 45, so I finished my shopping but my faithful grands stayed to see the artisan finish. They were delighted with the finished penguin. In fact, Aay said, "It turned out really cute!"

In addition to the demonstations, we were able to design some pretty cool sand blasted plates and bowls. We did this by placing stickers to the outside of a clear glass plate and then sandblasting it with a sandblast hose. The result was that after removing the stickers that particular area remained clear while everything around it became cloudy white from the sand being blasted on the glass. It was a lot of fun really. I cut out some original designs and added some long stems and flowers. It is a money maker for them but a keepsake for me. So I would encourage anyone to try it.

As a matter of fact if you are anywhere near Corning, go. It is a beautiful museum full of extensive artwork, classes, demonstrations, and interactive educational activities. I have gone twice and frankly have revisited it a dozen times by going over my pictures time and time again. It is worth visiting I can assure you.

If you want to get more information just click here