Schools
 

PLEASE SUBMIT ADDITIONAL SCHOOLS TO ME WITH REVIEWS. :dog:


Penland Glass School
P.O. Box 37 Penland N.C. 28765
828-765-2359
www.penland.org
office@penland.org

I love Penlands' approach. If you are new to glass you are not made to feel subhuman, they teach you basics instead. If you are advanced, you are taught accordingly. Beautiful place and great people.

Pilchuck Glass School
315 2ns Avenue South
Suite 200 Seattle WA 98104
206-621-8422
206-621-0713
www.pilchuck.com

I only recommend Pilchuck to experienced glassblowers who have design issues and don't
mind working in a zoo where everyone is totally self concious. As a beginner, Pilchuck can tear you to shreds. Go to Penland if you are just starting. If you are very clear on what you are doing, Pilchuck can be fantastic.


Pratt Fine Arts Center
1902 S. Main Seattle WA 98144
206-328-2200\www.pratt.org

I have heard mixed reviews on Pratt. Lately a lot of complaints about glass quality. It has certainly been around a long time and everyone has glass problems now and then


Sheridan College
1430 Trafalgar Road
Oakville Ontario
Canada L6H2L1
905-845-9430
905-815-4043 FAX
glass@sheridanac.on.ca

I just sent one of my assistants to go to school here and he likes it.


Steinert Glass School
1507 Franklin Ave
Kent Ohio
800-727-7473
330-678-8238 FAX
www.steinertindustries.com
Beginning and Advanced Glassblowing, Sandcasting, fusing, slumping, bead making and blacksmithing

Pretty new, I am really clueless about it.

The Studio at Corning
One Corning Glass Center
Corning New York 14830
607-974-6467
607-974-6370 FAX
TheStudio@cmog.org

Great facility, great teachers, fairly good music, great reference library, great museum,
Summer and winter programs. Be there.

Sydney College of the Arts
University of Sydney
Philip Gissing, Admissions and Courses
http://www.usyd.edu.au/sca/

I think the neatest glass in the world is coming out of Austrailia right now. Learn to speak Fosters, Australian for Beer

Wanganui Polytechnic
57 Cambell Street
infoline@whanganui.ac.nz
www.whanganui.ac.nz

Certificate and diploma in Glass
Design and Production issues
B.A.
Summer program.

Think Down Under. Think Kiwi

Pete,

I haven't blown at Pratt in years, but with a friend like this I suppose the glass quality will improve considerably! :eek:

Is Dave Traub still teaching at Wanganui? Haven't heard from him in ages.

And, for this schools list, are you interested in private/commercial hotshops that offer classes? There are a bunch in Seattle, however I can't personally vouch for any of them.

Rich S.

Hot Glass in Los Angeles?
 

Are there any STUDIOS in Los Angeles that offer classes or rent shop time?

I think the best place to check would actually be at Palomar Junior College down in San Marcos in San Diego County. They have had an active glass community for decades and would best be able to direct you to an LA hotshop. :dog:

Studio Search
 

Thanks for the advice. I've looked into Palomar & met some people from there at the Palo Alto Show but I just don't understand why LA County lacks accessible hotshops. San Diego is 1 1/2 hour drive. Every studio I've contacted in LA so far is private. My business partner and I moved from Seattle where hotshops were found on just about every corner! What's the deal with LA??? Is there some industry secret I'm unaware of???

Confused,
Drei

To try to give you a notion, Seattle has the most hot shops in the world with over two hundred. It is followed by Murano, San Francisco, Penland NC, Santa Fe. LA is far far behind. It is not a normal experience to find Hot shops. They aren't burger Kings. You don't get it your way..
Santa Fe has at least seventeen hot shops and none of them are public. There are no hot shops in Albuquerque which is eight times the size of Santa Fe and only sixty miles away.
San Diego used to have no hot shops with the exception of the Blogett family. Now they are all over the place but that may be temporaryt given
the vagaries of the energy situation in Southern cal.
:dog:

Surprised!
 

I'm still very surprised that a huge city like LA doesn't have more to offer. I've been searching for about a year and travel 1 1/2 hours to San Diego and Laguna Bch as much as I can but as you might know, driving is a nightmare here! I've even taken special weekend trips back to Seattle!

It seems to me that LA needs to get with it. And because hotshops are simply not Burger Kings, my business partner and I have decided to open a public accessible studio - by the looks of things, maybe the first ever in this town!

Guess if you want something done,
Your Way --
You gotta do it yourself!
Little Burger Queen ;)

well, when I think of Murano, San Francisco, Penland and Santa Fe, they have one thing in common that LA Doesn't have. They're really beautiful. :dog:

UrbanGlass has classes, not sure how good.
Haystack in Maine has craft classes and a few glass classes, but one of those is with Lino! (see my page http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/classes.htm )

Toledo OH has a substantial number of studios in the area.

Could it be that LA lacks studios due to a lack of commitment to quality ;-)

more like a lack of committment to reality.

While I am aware that Urban offers classes as does Haystack, I am looking for a review by someone who has gone to school there. :dog:

Urban glass, while being a wonderful establishment in a wonderful metro area, is lacking in some major areas, like ventilation, properly engineered equipment, and experienced techs... They offer great classes, with great teachers, and great students participate, but the politics of the place kind of get in the way with a great learning experience. Also a lot of N.Y.C. Glass artists use urban glass as their own studio. Its all very confusing to try to make work there without getting in someone's way.. even if they are in the B-Team.

The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass offers classes year round, mostly a week or two long. I attended a one week class in using wooden molds. Two other classes are held at the same time, normally one using the lampworking studio and one using the "other" room, which was reverse glass painting when I was there, but might be kiln work of various kinds or cold working.
I found the glass work environment tiring, but that was mostly me as I found I was coming down with Lyme disease. The housing is a motel across the street, two to a room, with a pool. Chits for meals are provided at various places, which broke up the group when it might have talked more.
The environment is friendly and the resources of the museum are available. Lunch was brought in, usually cold, and evening sessions discussed various topics. A complete report is on my site http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/gl-garag.htm

I would also suggest northern Ohio, southern Michigan as an area with a lot of studios, not knowing how many are accessable. Kent State and Bowling Green State are both in the area.

Seattle Glassblowing School
 

I really liked my class at Seattle Glassblowing. Their facilities were well equipped and ventilated. They also rent studio time to ex-students for $38 an hour. http://www.seattleglassblowing.com/

Toledo Museum of Art glass classes
 

The Toledo Museum of Art offers beginning, intermediate and advanced glassblowing classes in the fall, winter, and spring. I've attended all of these classes and they are quite good for someone just beginning. There usually is a lot of interest and only a few spots available. They also have open blow times available. Classes and blow slots are three hours once per week for 10 weeks. Since they are somewhat subsidized, prices are very reasonable. Check them out at: Toledo Museum of Art

Toledo Museum of Art. (Jeff, you had one too many slashes in your link.)

Pittsburgh Glass Center
 

The Pittsburgh Glass Center is a brand new facility that caters to all types of glass artists, from beginning to advanced. I don't want to describe in detail what you can do here, because it will be too long of a thread. But the general feel for the school is very comfortable. The only knowledge I have in hot glass has come from PGC so I can't compare it to other schools or studios, but I have been around some of the best artist/instructors in hot glass and have talked with many students from around the country so far and hear we are the talk of the glass community in different schools and studios. I hear there is a lot of "ego" in glass workers, but I have not experienced it yet. It's as if the staff there goes out of there way to help you. I would definitely suggest looking into there intensive programs this summer!

http://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/

Glass Schools - Columbus, Ohio
 

Columbus, Ohio has three teaching glass facilities:

Glass Axis http://www.glassaxis.org/ a non-profit public access studio

Columbus College of Art and Design http://www.ccad.edu/ccad.html - This is where I learned glassblowing

The Ohio State University http://www.arts.ohio-state.edu/Art/index_flash.html

Check out their web sites for more information.

Mickey

simple syrup glass studio, Brockton MA.

We took a class here in September, great experience, great instructor, awesome shop.

If anyone is passing through the Cincinnati area please stop by River City Works Facility of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. I tech and teach glass for the Academy and am always happy to have visitors. We are pretty much unknown. The shop is not a rental but we do offer classes to the general public through the Community Education program: otherwise, it is for Academy students only. Our address is 532 E. 12th St. The Academy has a website but not much information on the glass facility so it is better to stop in and say "HI!"

Thanks,

Warren

Hi Warren. I live in Cincinnati and have wanted to check out River City for some time. I also tried to get into the beginner's glassblowing class, but I guess I called in too late.

Hell, I work on the corner of 8th and Gilbert, so maybe I could stop by for a social call after work some day.

- Ben

Ben,

The Community Ed classes fill within the first hours they are offered for registration so you have to be quick. I am not usually there in the evenings but if you call ahead I would be happy to set a time to meet and show you the facility. The RCW number is (513)421-5202 and just remind me you are from the Craftweb. Hope to hear from you and that goes for anyone else out there.

Thanks,

Warren

Will do, Warren. Thanks. :)

http://www.chicagohotglass.com/

I've never studied there, but the staff I met at yesterday's open house seemed skilled and friendly.


"Chicago Hot Glass’ 3200 square foot facility features a complete glass working studio including:

• furnace with 400 pounds of Spruce Pine clear crystal & 100 pounds of color
• (4)20-pound pot electric color furnace
• 4 glory holes
• 7 annealers of various sizes
• cold shop with grinding wheel and a belt sander, sandblaster
• gallery

All facilities are available for rental to approved renters at an hourly rate.

Contact Chicago Hot Glass at 773-394-3252 for more information."

College For Creative Studies
 

The College for Creative Studies in Detroit has a glass program.
http://www.ccscad.edu/homepage.cfm
I've attended their extension courses for non-matriculated students. The studio is two day tank furnaces, two glory holes and three benches. Maximum of eight student in a class, some I took were not full in summer. One blower will use the furnace for their glory. One furnace is batching at all times. Glass quality (spruce pine) was pretty good though at the time I didn't know the difference. The extension courses are split into the beginner and the intermediate but most of the students were pretty much beginners. This means that you want to arrive early and get on a bench right away, otherwise you will probably only get one turn at the bench per class. In a once a week class that isn't enough. Studio ventilation is pretty good but it does get hot in the summer. Lots of natural light as two walls are all windows. The cold shop is well equipped but poorly supervised. Definitely ask for help if you are unfamiliar with the equipment. Locker space is at a premium and goes to the enrolled students. Be prepared to haul your gear in and out with you each week if you are in the extension program.

I really cannot comment upon the program for full time students but the work they were doing was pretty impressive to me at the time.

In case anyone needed to know:
Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth, VA has a fledgling glass program on the roof of the Visual Arts Center in Downtown Portsmouth. 1 300# tank, 2 big holes, 2 anneallers, 1 on its way, little colorbox, pipe warmer, pipe cooler onits way. It's nice blowing glass on the roof.
j.