In a spring studio seminar course crosslisted in the Program in Visual Arts and the Center on Science and Technology, Princeton students are exploring the material, scientific, and cultural dimensions of glass.
Co-taught by Senior Lecturer in Visual Arts and sculptor Martha Friedman and analytical chemist Z. Vivian Feng, assistant director for STEM Education, the course considers glass at both the molecular and artistic levels. Students investigate properties such as thermal expansion, refractive index, and durability while examining how transparency, fragility, and luminosity have shaped technology and visual culture. The seminar pairs scientific inquiry with creative practice: the first half features lectures, demos, and field trips; the second culminates in a glass kiln casting project from wax modeling to mold making and cold working.
Photo Highlights
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo by Vivian Feng
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo by Martha Friedman
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo by Martha Friedman
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo by Martha Friedman
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photos by Ann Jackle / Courtesy Corning Museum of Glass
Princeton students enrolled in the course, Beyond Transparency: Glass as Material and Muse, take a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Photo by Martha Friedman
On a recent field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, the students were invited into The Studio, the Museum’s state-of-the-art work spaces, which are equipped for furnace working, flameworking, kiln working, cold working, and more. They learned from resident artists and tried their hand at various glass making techniques. The group also visited galleries displaying the Museum collection, which contains more than 50,000 objects representing over 3,500 years of history.
