Experience Pilchuck Glass School’s breathtaking and historic campus in a whole new light this fall at our fourth annual Light the Forest event. This self-guided tour of neon art installations in the Pacific Northwest forest will feature work by Seattle-based artist, MiNHi England.
This event is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience a self-guided walking tour of neon art and light installations in the Pacific Northwest forest.
Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains amidst a working tree farm. Since its inception in 1971, Pilchuck's serene campus has been a place where glass artists from all over the world convene for shared creative experiences, reflection, inspiration, and learning. Get a taste of Pilchuck's creative magic at the most unique art walk you'll ever attend.
Children under 14 years of age have free admission to tour the installations. All add-ons require a separate ticket.
Sign up for a blow-your-own session and see first-hand what it’s like to work with molten glass! Craft a charming ornament, and choose from a vibrant array of colors and patterns. You'll receive one-on-one assistance to help you bring your artistic vision to life! Your molten glass creation will need to cool overnight, but we will pack it with care and ship it directly to your doorstep.
There are a limited number of slots, so don’t hesitate—sign up today!
Please note: Participants must book their slot on the same day they attend. One piece of glass art per ticket. Open to all ages 6 and up.
Join us for an exciting introduction to neon making! This four-hour workshop will focus on getting participants into the studio, bending glass, and illuminating their own art. Each student will walk away with a gestural illuminated sculpture—contained and ready to be displayed in your home! Students should expect to get a feel for the way glass tubing is manipulated in a flame and leave with a basic understanding of how neon works. This is a great opportunity for folks who have no glass experience and for those interested in neon art!
Please note: Guests must attend the workshop for the same day they’ve booked their ticket to view the exhibition. Each add-on is good for one person. Workshop is welcome to everyone ages 18+.
MiNHi England is a Seattle-based artist whose work engages reflection, distortion, and the instability of perception. Working with glass, mirrored surfaces, light, and mixed media, she creates environments that shift with the viewer, where clarity and disorientation coexist and meaning remains fluid.
Her practice is rooted in material exploration. Blown and kiln-formed glass, silvered surfaces, and illuminated elements such as neon and LED extend beyond aesthetics, distorting how the present is seen, felt, and understood. Reflection operates as both method and metaphor, revealing as much as it obscures. Forms fracture, certainty softens, and the work resists singular interpretation, inviting viewers to remain in the space between recognition and ambiguity.
An attention to the body and its emotional landscape runs throughout. Grief, memory, and resilience surface as quiet forces, shaping forms that are at once fragile and enduring. The work considers what it means to exist within systems that promise protection yet fail, and how we continue to adapt and re-form within those conditions.
Through repetition, light, and optical layering, England creates experiences that are both intimate and expansive. The viewer is not separate from the work but embedded within it, their presence activating subtle perceptual shifts. Reflection becomes more than an image; it is a process of seeing and being seen, of holding contradiction, and of locating steadiness within motion.
In addition to her independent practice, England works in collaboration with John Sharvin. Sharvin’s work explores speculative, space-oriented forms, shaped by his interest in science and engineering. His practice is driven by an internal dialogue, where he uses imagined environments to work through questions of identity. Scale becomes a way of locating ourselves within something vast. Our smallness emphasizes the distance we can feel from understanding ourselves.
Together, their collaboration operates as an extension of their individual practices, merging material sensitivity with structural and spatial thinking. Their combined approach moves fluidly between concept, digital modeling, fabrication, and installation, allowing for the realization of complex, large-scale works. Through the integration of glass, light, and optical systems, they create immersive environments that invite interaction and perceptual shift. The partnership is grounded in a shared investment in process, experimentation, and the translation of abstract ideas into tangible, spatial experience.
Experience Pilchuck Glass School’s private campus in a whole new light this fall for our second annual Light the Forest event. This event is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience a walking tour of neon art installations in the Pacific Northwest forest.
New and experienced artists alike often make tremendous conceptual and artistic progress in their short time at Pilchuck. Combining a deep focus on glass, access to a variety of resources, a picturesque Pacific Northwest setting and an ever-expanding international community of artists, Pilchuck has become the most comprehensive educational center in the world for glass artists.