The properties of glass are what help to make it so useful for artistry, and despite the similar working conditions for Pittsburgh’s workers who helped to mass produce glass and steel, Pittsburgh is now only referred to as “The Steel City.” Pittsburgh was critical to the production of glass in the United States, and yet this part of the city’s history is much more unknown than the steel industry. Today, towns just outside of the city of Pittsburgh still produce glass, and the steel industry is a mere shadow of what it used to be. The history of Pittsburgh’s role in the manufacturing of glass is not nearly as well known, and prior to our visit to the Pittsburgh Glass Center, I was unaware of the fascinating process behind glass artistry.
Glass artistry historically has required seasoned knowledge and skill in working with glass. Glass production started through the formation of blowing molten glass and working it into the shape that is desired. This serves a stark contrast from the industrialized approach which Pittsburgh started mass manufacturing of glass (Kirsch). Glass artistry was mainly centralized in the city to subway tiles and tableware, and Pittsburgh was not known heavily for its glass artistry. In the early 1800’s, working with glass involved factories which included shops and craftsmen who used tools to work with molten glass. After 1826, the mechanical pressing of glass became the premier way of mass-producing certain types of glass “art.” This streamlined the process of producing glass works and, coupled with better economic conditions, encouraged rapid expansion within the industry, specifically in Western Pennsylvania. The region became the home of nearly a third of the country’s glass factories. Continual innovations in glass production lead to further development of glass factories along Pittsburgh’s South Side and surrounding smaller towns (Madarasz).
While commercial glass production in the city experienced change due to the city’s fires and changing economic situation, resources for creative glass use remained stagnant. In 1998, Gallery G Glass was founded in Pittsburgh’s southside and has since moved to East Liberty. According to the Gallery G Glass website, they describe themselves as the oldest glassblowing studio in Pittsburgh. Today, the three remaining glassblowing and artistry centers in the city are Pittsburgh Glass Center, Gallery G Glass and that of Vessel Studio in Southside. Gallery G Glass was founded by owner Gary Guydosh and today offers classes for the public (Gallery G Glass Inc.). Vessel studio, which was founded in 2006, offers workshops and has a glass gallery for artists to display their work (“Vessel Studio Glass”). The Pittsburgh Glass Center differs from the other current glassblowing studios in Pittsburgh because of it’s offering of residencies for artists.
Upon founding the Pittsburgh Glass Center, the city had very few glass artists, and students who majored in glass art at Pittsburgh city schools moved away to pursue their craft. Kathleen Mulcahy and Ron Desmett, the founders of PGC, had an integral role in kickstarting the Pittsburgh glass artistry to where it is today. PGC has drawn artists to stay in Pittsburgh, and the residencies offered by the center involve community outreach to further engage the community in glass artistry (Morano). Since the Pittsburgh Glass Center has opened, they have had 114 residencies for artists ranging from weeks to a few months. Residents come to Pittsburgh from around the globe to further their career goals. Residencies have been crucial to the development and continual growth of glass artists’ craft. In addition to this, the Pittsburgh Glass Center offers high school outreach programs, which recruits local high school students and exposes them to glass artistry. In this way, the Glass Center has had an integral role in introducing the next generation of artists to glassmaking. Notably, students from the high school outreach program have gone on to study glassmaking at acclaimed art schools. Noteworthy alumni of the Center’s SiO2 Young Artists Glass Program include an instructor at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio and Technical Assistant of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Visiting the Pittsburgh Glass Center and watching a glassblowing demonstrating had me pausing before drinking from the glasses I had in my kitchen. Watching a 15-minute demonstration involving the artistry and highly skilled work of the glass artists at the Glass Center served as a stark contrast to the mass-produced drinking glasses which I had been given by my friend’s father. My friend’s father works at the Anchor Hocking plant in Monaca, outside of the city, and if any of the mass-produced items have the slightest imperfection, they are thrown out or donated. Pausing to admire the imperfections in the glass which was mass-produced, I was reminded of one of the messages which was portrayed in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. Seeing the imperfection of the bubble in the glass from Anchor Hawking was a sort of testament to the very real and very imperfect process of glass-making, even in a mass production setting. Seeing this glass in the context of my own life, in my kitchen, and the familiarity of my own home, made it much more human-like and added to my appreciation of the piece.
Works Cited
“Episode 1.” Ways of Seeing, written by John Berger, produced by Mike Dibb, BBC Two, 1972.
Gallery G Glass Inc., www.gallerygglass.com/index.html.
Kirsch, Haldan. “The Glass City: Pittsburgh's History as the Center of the U.S. Glass Business.” 90.5 WESA, 13 July 2013, www.wesa.fm/post/glass-city-pittsburghs-history-center-us-glass-business.
Madarasz, Anne. Glass Shattering Notions: A Companion to the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Exhibition Glass, Shattering Notions, the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, Opening April 1998. Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1998.
Morano, Malcolm. “An Improbable Success Story, Pittsburgh Glass Center's 15th Anniversary Is Indeed a Celebration.” UrbanGlass, 13 July 2016, urbanglass.org/glass/detail/pittsburgh-glass-center-turns-15.
“Vessel Studio Glass.” Vessel Studio Glass, vesselstudio.net/.