New Glass Now opened at the Corning Museum of Glass this May. As one of the selected artists I couldn’t let this opportunity slip by to visit Corning again.

My first visit was in 2016 for the Glass Art Society conference. I was blown away then as I was this time around. Over and above the spectacular Museum the opening of New Glass Now was staged over the entire weekend, from Friday evening’s VIP preview to the official opening night with live music and dancing in the CMoG Hotshop amphitheatre.

I spent my days exploring Corning by foot and at the Rakow Research Library.

The Rakow Library is probably the treasure trove of glass related publications on the entire planet!

I started delving into “magic”, not the illusionist card toting type, but true magic, the stuff which made our ancestors imbue meaning and belief into nature and objects.

The Rakow Library was a welcome sanctuary, especially when rain was pelting outside and nursing that late-night-before excesses.

Between all that studying there were warm moments where splashes of sun broke through the thick clouds. Without any plan or map I walked South from the Museum, across the the bridge over Chemung River, over Denison Parkway, up the hill. One can see St. Mary’s Church from downtown and, turning right, I headed up that way.

What a view from there! And Little Joe Tower sticks out, a constant beacon of where downtown and the head office of Corning Incorporated is.

From St. Mary’s I walked along the streets, marvelling at some of the gorgeous houses lining the streets. A big terracotta brick building further up piqued my interest.

It was the Corning Free Academy, built in 1923 as a school building which recently got converted into modern apartments. I was dumbstruck at the solid Romanesque architecture.

As irony would have it, the caretaker (I think Dudley was his name) just parked his car. He saw mw gawking and without hesitation started givng me a short historical insight on the building and renovations taking place. He also mentioned the house opposite, the “Yellow House”, possibly was built by one of the Houghton’s, whose forebear Amory Houghton founded Corning Glass Works in 1851. The house was built during the recession and to avoid laying off the factory workers they had to construct the house in one hundred days, to be finished just in time Houghton’s daughter’ wedding.

From there I ambled through the streets, heading back down to town, passing the Christ Episcopal and the First United Methodist Churches, which stand opposite another in Cedar Street, with the Rockwell Museum just down the road.

The other photos I took on the East side of Corning, at and around Hope Cemetery.

I am not exploring any specific theme or narration, I’m just taking pictures that interest me.

These images were all taken with my iPhone 7 using the DarkR app, a digital darkroom.