Norfolk, Chrysler Museum and Chrysler Glass Studio to Host International Conference

NORFOLK, VA.—September 16, 2015—The Glass Art Society (GAS) announced today its selection of the Chrysler Museum of Art and its Perry Glass Studio as host for the 46th annual conference, Reflections from the Edge: Glass, Art, and Performance.

From June 1–3, 2017, attendees will experience technical glass demonstrations on various glass processes and topics; lectures on science and art; and special events such as a local gallery hop, goblet grab, international student exhibition, and live and silent auction. Participants will also witness one of the Studio’s most exciting features, its groundbreaking theatrical glass performances, for which the Studio is quickly establishing a national reputation.

“This prestigious conference is a natural fit with what we have to offer at The Chrysler Museum of Art and our Perry Glass Studio,” said Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil. “It will certainly add to the growing acclaim for our glass program across the nation.”

GAS selected the Chrysler, in part, for the strengths of its renowned glass collection and its Studio’s growing name in the world of glass, especially in the area of glass performances.

“We are thrilled to have selected Norfolk for the first time as our host city for the 2017 GAS conference,” said Pamela Koss, Glass Art Society Executive Director. “Artists from across the country and around the world will be introduced to the expansive glass collection of the Chrysler Museum and discover the state-of-the-art Perry Glass Studio.”

The Chrysler Museum of Art boasts an encyclopedic collection of more than 10,000 works in glass, including significant strengths in American, English and French glass. The Museum’s extensive Tiffany collection is world-famous, containing many blown-glass masterworks, as well as splendid windows, lamps, and decorative arts. The contemporary glass collection is far-reaching with representations of the Studio Glass Movement and works that illustrate new, innovative practices in contemporary glass. Recent acquisitions include historic glass by Frederick Carder and Christopher Dresser and contemporary works by renowned artists such as Beth Lipman, Luke Jerram, Etsuko Ichikawa, Steffen Dam, Jun Kaneko, and Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova.

The state-of-the-art Perry Glass Studio, launched in 2011 to complement the Museum’s glass collection, helps demonstrate how masterworks in the collection were created. The Studio offers free public glassmaking demonstrations and classes and workshops for all levels of expertise. Its educational assistantship program helps train the next generation of glass professionals. Over the past four years, its Visiting Artist Series has brought many of the world’s great names to Norfolk to create new works of art as the public watches. In addition, the Studio’s monthly evening performances on Third Thursday have helped it establish a reputation for its innovation and groundbreaking glass theater.

“We could not be more delighted for this opportunity to share our incredible state-of-the-art Studio and superb glass collection with the larger glass community,” said Charlotte Potter, Manager and Programming Director of the Chrysler Museum’s Glass Studio, who is spearheading the planning and community partnerships for the 2017 conference. “By focusing on our Studio’s strengths, which highlight process and the performance-oriented nature of glassmaking, we are able to set the stage for the next generation of glassmakers.”

Both the Museum and the Glass Studio also serve as an anchor for Norfolk’s blossoming arts district. New Energy of Norfolk, or NEON, will launch in fall 2015, inviting visual, performing, culinary, and touring artists to transform several downtown blocks an into a synergistic urban hub for creativity.

The 2017 GAS conference is co-chaired by Diane Wright, the Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass; Charlotte Potter; and community volunteers Virginia Hitch and Colin McKinnon.

“The Chrysler Museum of Art is extremely pleased to host the 2017 Glass Art Society conference,” Wright said. “We are eager to welcome so many artists working in the field of glass to Norfolk, a community with a tremendous passion for supporting the arts, especially glass. For this conference we invite the international glass community to explore the deep history that glass has to offer, as well as to highlight some of the future movements in the field. We look forward to rolling out the red carpet in June 2017!”

About the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Perry Glass Studio
The recently expanded Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums, with a nationally recognized collection of more than 30,000 objects, including American art, photography, contemporary glass, and more. In 2011, the Museum opened a full-service glass studio with a 560-pound capacity furnace, a full hot shop, a flameworking studio, nine annealing ovens, a flat-glass shop, and a coldworking shop. In addition, the Chrysler administers two Federal-period historic houses in downtown Norfolk: the Moses Myers House and the Willoughby-Baylor House.

About the Glass Art Society
The Glass Art Society is an international non-profit organization founded in 1971 whose purpose is to encourage excellence, to advance education, to promote the appreciation and development of the glass arts, and to support the worldwide community of artists who work with glass.

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