Become a Pilchuck Magic Maker
Become a Pilchuck Magic Maker
First 100 to join receive a limited-edition tote
Participants may select one workshop per session, during which they will be fully immersed in a vibrant educational environment on the breathtaking Pilchuck campus for the duration of the session. All participants eat, work, and sleep on campus for the entire session. Days include intensive instruction and demos throughout the day and evening, as well as ample opportunities for personal exploration and studio time. Housing is warm and rustic and most accommodations require a brief walk through fields and forest to reach the studios.
In this class, students will develop hot glass sculptures reflecting their personal identity by tapping into family history, cultural heritage, and significant life events. Using a variety of methods – cane, murrine and roll-ups, color application, mold-blowing, and printing - students will learn to create a visual narrative using a personal iconography, that draws inspiration from mythology and folk traditions.
Our point of departure is the interface between analogue and digital making in glass. We will consider different ways we can take glass from the 2D image to the 3D form and vice versa. It will be a quick sprint through elements of screen printing, kiln-forming. water jet cutting, and glassblowing! We hope to discover what is possible in the crossovers.
This Workshop will work with glass as a unique sculptural material. We will consider the relationship to the body, site specific space and touch on the material connections between glass, metal, wood and landscape. The outcome will be objects and site-specific installations. We will use drawing and all technical facilities to develop new approaches to one's work.
Leaning into oneself and how one creates a place, students will be led through a series of exercises to explore what it means to create and hold space. From these mini exercises, students will develop works in glass using lost wax casting and pate de verre. In addition to these techniques, demos will include silicone mold making, the use of enamels on flat and cast surfaces, and the benefits of reinvesting. Students should expect to take away fully finished work, a series of tests, and many ideas.
“Time passes, and the glass is very fragile- but eternal; reuniting 30 years later but with the same enthusiasm and spirit (as it began).” This team first worked together at Pilchuck 30 years ago. Led by Brian and Ed, with assistance from Lucio, this workshop will explore numerous ways of combining flame and furnace expressions.
Kelly Akashi, a Los Angeles-based artist, explores material tactility and impermanence through glass-blowing, casting, and stone carving. Her work has been showcased in solo exhibitions across prestigious institutions and collections worldwide. Akashi is a recent recipient of the MOCA Distinguished Women in the Arts Award and the LACMA Art+Technology Grant.
Narcissus Quagliata, is considered one of the most significant artists in glass, he has redefined glass art over the past 50 years. Renowned for public works across three continents, his recent video courses explore fused glass's painterly potential. His works are featured in museums and private collections worldwide.
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Corey Pemberton (American b. Reston, VA 1990, Lives Los Angeles, CA) received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. He has completed residencies internationally at institutions including The Pittsburgh Glass Center (PA), Bruket (Bodø, NO), and a fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts (NC). He currently divides his time between his painting studio and a production glassblowing team in LA.
Danielle Brensinger received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Glass from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2012. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York where she works as a freelance glassblower, artist assistant and educator out of UrbanGlass. Brensinger also currently works as an adjunct professor at Salem Community College in New Jersey. She has received full scholarships from the Celebrity Fund and the Tommie Rush and Richard Jolley Scholarship Fund to attend classes at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Penland School of Crafts. Danielle has also been able to attend Pilchuck Glass School and the Bild-Werk Academy in Frauenau, Germany as a teaching assistant for both glass blowing and bronze casting classes.
Every summer since 1971 the glass world has come together for innovative and rigorous workshops with an international cohort of instructors and artists. In 2025 we will host seven sessions.
The summer is filled with an all-star roster including Jen Elek, Annette Blair, Ben Edols, Jessica Loughlin, Sibelly, Danny Coyle, Dante Marioni and more. An advanced topics Spring Session will include an opportunity to be a part of Pilchuck history by rebuilding one of the program furnaces with Fred Metz. Session 3 will see the return of lampworking maestro Lucio Bubacco for a 30-year reunion of his Flame to Furnace collaboration with Brian Kerkvliet and Ed Schmid. Preston Singletary and Martin Janecký will bring their combined approach to Session 4. Silvia Levenson returns during Session 5, Pilchuck’s first bi-lingual (Spanish/English) session.
Join us for another transformative year on the hill.
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