Cold Shop Love Affair: Precision, Proficiency, and Polishing
This course will highlight cold working as an expansive part of glassmaking, using only reductive processes to create shape, surface, and transform objects. The focus will be entirely on cold working techniques and building a set of skills for future success. We will review all aspects of working in a cold shop, from proper setup and efficient movements to avoiding common mistakes and working with clients. All shop equipment will be used to demonstrate precision work, surfacing, and much more. The course will include drawing and planning sessions, and students should expect to leave with both studies and finished works.
Celeste Wilson received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Brooklyn College. She lives and works in Queens, N.Y. Her work lies at the intersection of process, material, and deconstruction with a focus on glass. She has received numerous fellowships, including Wheaton Arts (2013), UrbanGlass (2017), Mass MoCA (2019), and Pilchuck Glass School (2021). Wilson is an adjunct faculty member, most recently teaching at NYU, RISD, and SUNY.
Christopher Duffy earned a BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art and has been working with glass for 25 years, with a professional focus on cold working. He has exhibited glass and mixed media sculpture throughout the United States and internationally. For 10 years, he has collaborated with the music group called Eaters, creating visual effects and occasionally playing a custom glass harmonica. He and Celeste Wilson own and operate Crater Works, a coldworking studio in Brooklyn, N.Y.
