Interdisciplinary Talks

by Glass Experts John McCloy and Hallie Meredith
12:30-1:30pm, Pavilion Gallery of the Museum and YouTube Livestream

Glassblowing Demonstration

by the Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop, Tacoma, WA
2:00-4:00pm, 4:30-6:30pm, Terrell Mall in front of the museum

Events are free and open to the public.

Glass is a deceptively simple material, ubiquitous in modern life but often overlooked in its significance. Yet it is both ancient and modern, a fusion of visual art, design, engineering, and technology. To explore the many facets of glass and celebrate the United Nations International Year of Glass, we offer Glass Comes Alive in Pullman. This free one-day event consists of interdisciplinary public talks about ancient and contemporary material and making, with a technological focus, followed by a demonstration by glassblowers from the Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop, Tacoma, WA. This event is designed to help students broaden their perspective concerning modern technology by looking to the past.

Interdisciplinary Talks | From 12:30-1:30pm Dr. Hallie Meredith, an expert in Ancient Art and Archaeology, and Dr. John McCloy, an expert in Materials and Mechanics, will give public talks about the technology of glass in the Pavilion Gallery of the Schnitzer Museum. The talks are designed to engage students and the wider community, and will also contextualize the museum’s Marian E. Smith glass collection, which is on permanent view in the Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE, 2nd floor, Atrium). Employing cross-disciplinary perspectives, these talks highlight the continued relevance of glass making and working technologies. The talks will also be livestreamed via YouTube.

Glassblowing Demos | Glass Comes Alive in Pullman will culminate in a free outdoor demonstration by the Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop, Tacoma, WA complemented by interactive VR models. During the glass event contemporary glassblowers will experiment with ways to approach the design and engineering of these ancient art forms by making versions of ancient Roman, Sasanian and early Islamic glass vessels. The experimental objects made will complement the public presentations, which address differing interpretations concerning the making of ancient glass, embodied learning, and their relevance to the study and practice of technology today. The interdisciplinary talks will include 3D printed versions of a complex ancient glass vessel designed in VR, by the Spark in collaboration with Dr. Meredith, that the public can handle. In collaboration with Dr. Meredith, the Spark has also designed an app that will be available to download on any device during the demonstration. The app will further enable the public to learn more about the ancient glass objects and their rich object biographies as the glassblowers use contemporary approaches to make versions today. The interactive digital media are designed to make the past accessible and demonstrate its continued significance.

Please also join us in the Department of Art Auditorium (Fine Arts Building) on Tuesday, August 29 for an Artist’s Talk by Museum of Glass glassblower Ben Cobb.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Dr. John McCloy | Dr. McCloy is Professor and current Director of the School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering and Lindholm Endowed Chair in Materials Engineering at Washington State University (WSU). His professional career includes stints in industry, national laboratory, and academia sectors: a professor at WSU since 2013, and previously a research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he retains a joint appointment as Chief Scientist. At WSU, he leads the Nuclear, Optical, Magnetic, & Electronic (NOME) Materials Lab, where students and scientists research aspects of radioactive waste management, including development of glasses and other materials for nuclear waste immobilization.

Dr. Hallie Meredith | Hallie G. Meredith is Assistant Professor of art history in the Department of Art at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. She specializes in late Antique work, craft production, Eurasian exchange, and ancient technologies with a glass emphasis. In addition to editing and co-editing publications on late Roman visual culture, she is the author of Word becomes Image: Openwork Vessels as a Reflection of Late Antique Transformation (Archaeopress, 2015). Meredith is writing a book titled The Unknown Artist: Anonymous Roman Glass Artisans and their Legacy, which considers communities of late Roman craftworkers as a history for today’s craft community. For more on Dr. Meredith’s research and teaching projects, visit: HallieMeredith.net 
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Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop | The Mobile Hot Shop arrives complete with two glass artists, an emcee, and all the glassmaking equipment to recreate our studio environment. These talented glassblowers use the tools on board to teach and captivate, with each move narrated by a skilled and knowledgeable emcee. Techniques are explained and questions are answered as the audience watches live glassmaking demonstrations. All of this occurs outdoors, under a very large tent with a full AV system for broadcasting the show.

Related Exhibition
Coinciding with the glass technology talks and event, the WSU Schnitzer Museum is offering the exhibition Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Jeffrey Gibson, (b. 1972, Colorado) is an artist of Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and incorporates glass and synthetic beadwork in some of his work.

Related Programs
• Glass Blowing Lecture by Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop, Tacoma, WA (Tues, August 29, 2023, Department of Art Auditorium at 4:30 pm)
• TENTATIVE: Workshop/Talk by Contemporary Native Bead Artist (September 2023)

Funding for these programs is provided by College of Arts and Sciences WSU; Common Reading Program; Creative Corridor WSU; David G. Pollart Center for Arts & Humanities WSU; Department of Art WSU; Global Campus WSU; International Year of Glass 2022;Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU and Learning Innovations WSU.