Corning, day two

We spent four hours at the glass museum on Sunday, but there were still several exhibits that we'd not had a chance to see, so the plan was to have breakfast then hit the museum until we had made the most of our time in Corning.

On Market Street there was a glass studio called Vitrix, where you can watch the resident glass blowers, called "gaffers," work on pieces for the shop. One of the best things about this town is that because beautiful glass is so abundant, it's rather cheap to buy. So I bought myself a souvenir. Here's what you can watch in the back room of the shop: 

Before heading back to the glass museum however, we walked over to the Rockwell Museum of western art, which we paid a few extra dollars for a museum combo ticket to see. Wow! Not only is there one world class museum in Corning, there are actually two. The Rockwells were wealthy glass industry magnates and amassed a personal collection of paintings and sculptures depicting Native Americans, cowboys, western landscapes, etc.  Included in the collection are Remingtons, Russells, Bierstadts and a Wyeth. Not too shabby. 

The Rockwells also had a collection of more than 2,000 pieces of fine art glass, which is housed in a separate wing of the glass museum.

We walked across the pedestrian bridge that connects the downtown side of Corning with the factory district--where the museum now stands--and finished seeing the exhibits there.

This is the only pic that Carolyn let me take of her--tucked behind a giant Dale Chihuly installation.

Corning NY . . . Who knew??

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I volunteered to accompany Carolyn on a 7-hour drive to upstate New York to see an exhibit at the Corning Museum of Glass, but now that I am here I am surprised that there's not more publicity about the place.

It's a very sophisticated museum in an ultra modern facility set in a tiny valley in a town that was once famous for its glass manufacturing. Corning . . . Think Corningware and Pyrex and Corelle. Now that the glass manufacturing industry has all but closed down, the museum is truly the only game in town.

A daily schedule that runs 9 to 8, 7 days a week seems ambitious in this dinky town, but then you see the countless tour busses parked in the lot and realize that this museum's reach is way beyond local.

When you see the flyer that lists the non-stop schedule of glass-making demonstrations in state-of-the-art theaters, you learn that this is a place that strives to entertain and educate people from around the world about how art glass is made in the present day. Yet, as exciting as the live demos are, done by young, personable, enthusiastic glass artists, they stress that they are still using ancient glass recipes, ancient techniques and that not all that much has changed in the 3,500 years since the first glassblower dropped a piece on the floor and said "oops."

The permanent exhibits show hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of practical and decorative glass from every continent on Earth and trace the origins of various techniques that changed glass-making history. It's so much to take in at once we had to take a break and make a plan to resume where we left off--someplace between paperweights and Tiffany windows. 

Our suite at the Inn at the Gaffer Grille is large and pleasant. Our dinner at the Market Street Brew Pub was satisfying and comfortable. Tomorrow's plan is to take a look at the Rockwell Museum's collection of Steuben art glass, then head back to the glass museum to pick up where we left off. Www.cmog.org.