The Museum is HUGE! In fact, when you buy a ticket it's automatically good for 2 consecutive days because it takes that long to see most of it! The first thing you see is a beautiful gallery of contemporary glass art.
We missed out on demonstrations during our last visit so this time we watched demonstrations of hot glass blowing and flameworking.
Flameworkers shape rods and tubes of glass into an array of objects including figurative sculptures.
The Corning collection includes glass from Ancient Egypt to present-day.
For example, this is a piece of Roman glass with painted decoration. The Daphne Ewer is painted and gilded with the story of Daphne and the god Apollo.
This is an example of glass in the Islamic World. Glassmakers in this region developed a new way to decorate glass by painting it with a metallic stain, or "lustre". From the 12th to the 14th century, craftsmen in Syria and Egypt used brilliant enamels.
Here's another of my favorite pieces. These intricate, lampworked figurines made during the Renaissance were often used as table decorations or placed in shrines.
These glass beakers from the 1830s feature transparent enameling. Painted in translucent colors, subjects were mostly miniature portraits and scenes of daily life.
Corning is also called "Crystal City". Here are some stunning crystal pieces at the Corning Museum:
The "Paperweights of the World" exhibit features hundreds of gorgeous paperweights, including a large one of the world!
Down the street in the Old City Hall building we found the Rockwell Museum. It features a variety of American art. I love these works by Helen Hardin (Isa-sah-wee- eh) from New Mexico, "The Land of Enchantment".
We've really enjoyed Corning's Gaffer District. There are several yummy restaurants and ice cream shops! The Corning Museum offers a free shuttle from its Welcome Center to the Corning Museum, the Rockwell Museum and to the Gaffer District.
Soon we will be taking a scenic drive through the Catskill Mountains to our next destination, Woodstock, New York. We're beginning to see some autumn leaves 🍂.
