By Susan Wallner
State of the Arts

One sign that the long winter months are ending is the relighting of the hot glass studio at WheatonArts and Cultural Center in Millville. South Jersey has a long history with glass. The Wistar factory opened in Alloway in 1739, becoming one of America’s first commercial producers of glass, and the international manufacturing corporation Wheaton USA began by making glass bottles in Millville in 1888. At WheatonArts, this tradition is both remembered and carried into the future. The public can visit the historic glass studio to see firsthand how a pitcher or goblet is made. While there, they may also see a Fellowship artist from the Creative Glass Center of America at work – perhaps making a glass element that will be used in a performance, or crafting the 2000˚ molten medium into some other personal work.

In the early 1960s, Harvey Littleton and other artists showed how glass could be made in small studios instead of in big, factory-style settings. By the early 1980s, the Studio Glass Movement was in full swing. The Creative Glass Center of America (CGCA) at WheatonArts was founded in 1983 by a group of artists, educators, and gallery directors who wanted to provide emerging and mid-career artists with the time and space to explore working with glass.

Since then, hundreds of artists from around the world have worked for weeks or months at a time as CGCA Fellows at Wheaton’s historic glass studio. A new exhibition celebrates the program’s 30th anniversary. “Wheaton Glass: The Art of the Fellowship” provides a glimpse into the wide spectrum of glass art created through and inspired by the CGCA Fellowship program. Blown, cast, and kiln-formed glass is the common factor in the diverse work brought together in this show.

WATCH VIDEO:

New Glass at Wheaton meets three Creative Glass Center of America Fellows, and visits a demonstration by the Pohlman and Knowles glass blowing team.

The period spent as a Fellow can be transformative. Jenny Pohlman and Sabrina Knowles work together as a glass art team based in Seattle. In 1999, they were Creative Glass Center of America Fellows. “It was a great gift,” says Pohlman. “We had plenty of time to manipulate what can be a very finicky and stubborn and challenging material.” “It was very liberating,” agrees Knowles. “It was a springboard for us, for many of the series we work on today.” This year, the first group of Fellows arrives for three months beginning April 24. The four artists are from Hawaii, South Korea, and New York State (Hastings-on-Hudson and Brooklyn). Later in the year, artists from Germany and Denmark will be in residence.

WheatonArts opens the Glass, Ceramic, Flamework, and Wood Carving Artist’s Studios to the public on April 2. The Studios are open Tuesday through Sunday through December. “Wheaton Glass: The Art of the Fellowship” opens April 2 as well, and will be on view throughout 2013. For more information, visit www.wheatonarts.org.

Susan Wallner is an award-winning producer with PCK Media. She is a long-time contributor to State of the Arts, now airing on NJTV Sundays at 8 pm and Thursdays at 11:30 pm.

Follow @SusanPCK

Related: Make Your Own Glass (or Pottery)