road trip!
May 21, 2008
Yesterday, in a fit of end-of-term celebration, the Pie Goddess and I went to the Corning Museum of Glass.
Best. Daytrip. Ever.
One day, we may even go back with the children.
Cool things:
Chihuly (1)
Chihuly (2 (a line from the Big Lebowski kept running through my head when I was looking at this. Guess which one.))
Glass Octopus.
Gianni Toso's chess set. It's Jews v. Christians. The Pie Goddess commented that it looked like the Jews were having a much better time. She's totally right.
Part of what made the trip so great is that we were there in the off-season -- it'll be nuts after Memorial Day -- and had the place mostly to ourselves. Oddly, there were four or five tour groups full of Japanese tourists moving through, which was notable only because why would you fly to the US from Japan in order to come to Corning, New York. What's odder is that there is a Japanese translator on staff at the museum and he kept popping up at the Hot Glass Show. His presence led us to think that Japanese tourist are fairly regular in Corning but I'm at a loss to tell you why. It's an awesome museum, sure, but not fly-for-12-hours awesome.
The best part, tho, was getting to make stuff. Soon, the lampworked glass beads will arrive, as will the ornament I blew with my very own breath.
Me, blowing.
My view. The ornament is the blue blob on the left.
The instructor, Quinn Doyle, who told me I have "round air," which is, she says, good.
Pie Goddess was great at the beads and wants to make more. I showed less immediate skill -- my forte seems to be my round air -- but want to learn more about lampwork beads, because I love to look at them. Making my hands do to things independently of each other is very, very hard, however.
It took all of my -- and I'll go out on a limb for the PG -- willpower to not sign up for summer classes. I'm pondering taken a day class during the dead of winter, however, when sitting in a hot glass shop will be a great cure for the season.
More pixs will be in the next post...
Best. Daytrip. Ever.
One day, we may even go back with the children.
Cool things:
Chihuly (1)
Chihuly (2 (a line from the Big Lebowski kept running through my head when I was looking at this. Guess which one.))
Glass Octopus.
Gianni Toso's chess set. It's Jews v. Christians. The Pie Goddess commented that it looked like the Jews were having a much better time. She's totally right.
Part of what made the trip so great is that we were there in the off-season -- it'll be nuts after Memorial Day -- and had the place mostly to ourselves. Oddly, there were four or five tour groups full of Japanese tourists moving through, which was notable only because why would you fly to the US from Japan in order to come to Corning, New York. What's odder is that there is a Japanese translator on staff at the museum and he kept popping up at the Hot Glass Show. His presence led us to think that Japanese tourist are fairly regular in Corning but I'm at a loss to tell you why. It's an awesome museum, sure, but not fly-for-12-hours awesome.
The best part, tho, was getting to make stuff. Soon, the lampworked glass beads will arrive, as will the ornament I blew with my very own breath.
Me, blowing.
My view. The ornament is the blue blob on the left.
The instructor, Quinn Doyle, who told me I have "round air," which is, she says, good.
Pie Goddess was great at the beads and wants to make more. I showed less immediate skill -- my forte seems to be my round air -- but want to learn more about lampwork beads, because I love to look at them. Making my hands do to things independently of each other is very, very hard, however.
It took all of my -- and I'll go out on a limb for the PG -- willpower to not sign up for summer classes. I'm pondering taken a day class during the dead of winter, however, when sitting in a hot glass shop will be a great cure for the season.
More pixs will be in the next post...
"The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina."
I loved the Corning museum; I really wish the dude would have gotten off the schedule so we could have made some glass things. And in August? Pretty empty. It may just be a hidden gem.
Posted by: Anna | May 21, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Wow!
For some reason* I had assumed the Corning glass museum was full of Corningware and couldn't imagine why DH said we should go there someday.
*because I'm a dork
Posted by: Casey | May 21, 2008 at 11:01 PM
This looks awesome! I still remember the Chihuly exhibit I saw at Middlebury College in 1997, and I *still* remember the glass-blowing exhibition I saw at a fair when I was about 10 years old. So I wish I could have been there!
Posted by: Tim | May 22, 2008 at 08:02 AM
Jealous.
Posted by: Netter | May 22, 2008 at 08:47 AM
Johnson?
Posted by: matthew | May 22, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Anna guessed the quote in one go.
It does sound like it'll be the dorkiest museum ever. Yet, it's not. In this, at least, listen to the DH.
I stalk Chihuly exhibits, which started when his work was at the Knoxville Museum of Art a few years ago. I can't wait to get my heiner out to Seattle to visit the glass motherland.
Posted by: Adrienne | May 22, 2008 at 03:24 PM
You do know I call the dude the dude because it's his 2nd favorite* movie and I've seen it a hundred times?
*The first is Withnail & I which I just don't get. I think I came to it in the wrong era.
Posted by: Anna | May 22, 2008 at 04:35 PM
Oh....the first Chihuly and the chess set are brilliant!
I'm hopefully passing through Seattle this summer---I just added the art museum to my WannaDo list. :)
Posted by: karrie | May 26, 2008 at 06:27 PM