Book Description

The 1971 an extraordinary summer experiment in art education launched what is now the world's most famous school of glass, the Pilchuck Glass School, located in the forested foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. Since the school was founded by artist Dale Chihuly and art patrons John Hauberg and Anne Gould Hauberg, glass has become recognized as a legitimate medium in the visual arts. This publication documents the parallel evolution of artistic sophistication and technical virtuosity in glass with examples by the school's international faculty. It complements the national travelling exhibition curated by Lloyd E. Herman and organized by the Whatcom Museum of History and Art in Bellingham, Washington. The book traces the school's growth from a counter-culture summer glass camp, with impromptu tent structures and a glass furnace constructed by the first summer's students, through its evolution into a professional art school with a waiting list of prospective students. Photographs of the school and its programs over the years accompany color illustrations of 76 objects by 66 world renowned glass artists. Shown are works of art by early faculty members that exemplify the influence of pop art and the "funk" ceramics movement on glass art in the early 1970's, and examples of glass vessels, sculpture, flat glass and glass plate prints produced by faculty members to 1992. A bibliography and a list of faculty since 1971 add to the book's value to art collectors and scholars.