Experience The World Of Glass At Chicago Museum

Since its discovery more than 4,000 years ago, glass has been propelling innovation and discovery across the globe. The Glass Experience explores how glass has shattered the paradigms of our world's civilizations. The often overlooked material is all around us in many functional and decorative forms. Discoveries such as air- locked vessels and vacuum tubes have lead to preserved foods, electric lights, television and radio. Lenses allow for night sea navigation, improved eyesight, and astronomical as well as microscopic discoveries. Heat tolerant glass allows for cooking and space flight, while glass fibers propel the communication age and insulate our homes. And, glass' sheer beauty—seen in colors, facets, etching and shape—uplifts and illuminates our lives.

The Museum of Science and Industry has invited the Corning Museum of Glass, the world's leading glass museum and glassmaking school, and the Botti Studio, the prominent stained glass workshop, to demonstrate their skills at the museum for the entirety of the exhibit. At the Museum, guests will have the chance to see glass pieces made daily by artisans working in the Museum's own glass "hot shop," view stained glass restoration in progress, admire glass masterpieces and discover how glass is able to advance our technology and lives.

Hot Glass Show: Watch live as the nation's finest craftsmen, from New York's Corning Museum of Glass, demonstrate the science and art of glassblowing on the "Hot Shop Stage" every day. Glass can be made from any material that is quickly cooled from a molten state, hardening before the molecules can crystallize. Most man-made glass is made with sand, lime and soda. Each day the artisans, working with molten glass at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, will choose a design drawn by a guest and bring it to life in the form of a glass masterpiece!

Bringing Stained Glass to Life: The Botti Studio of Architectural Arts in Evanston, Ill.—which has been in the stained glass business for six generations—will be on site to demonstrate the designing, patterning and assembling of stained glass windows, lamps and mosaics. In addition, they will be working on the restoration of the Chicago Cultural Center's Tiffany Dome, offering guests the unique opportunity to watch and talk with these artisans as they delicately rebuild a masterpiece.

Chihuly Macchia Forest: More than 20 large, brilliantly colored glass baskets will be constructed for the exhibit by renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Each organically-shaped basket is placed on a pedestal of a varying height, filling the air with speckled, brilliantly colored pieces— giving the illusion of a glass forest. This "Macchia Forest" will be accompanied by a short film that explains the scientific process that is involved with the external coloring of a glass object.

Glass Masters: Within the exhibit, marvel at the colorful glass gallery illuminated with Tiffany lamps and windows by Frank Lloyd Wright. As masters of the genre, Tiffany and Wright embraced organic ideals, while pushing the standard of stained glass with texture and light. The gallery will contain more than 20 lamps and windows, plus samples of materials, tools and patterns used to make these pieces, and a short film that helps explain this intricate process.

Industrious and Inventive: Glass is a material that is critical for progress throughout the globe: It is used in a variety of industries such as construction and telecommunications and needed for insulation, televisions and lighting, space exploration and decor. In this area, guests will discover how glass plays a part in our daily life and the new innovations that are made possible with glass. Innovation with glass began early as glass was used for its transparency, impervious qualities, color, luminescence, durability and delicacy. In a collection of unique pieces from Murano, Rome, China and throughout the world, guests will explore objects that break the notions of what is commonly interpreted as glass. Breakthrough technologies that use glass—from companies and organizations like NASA, Corning Inc., Pilkington and more—are on display, some for the first time.

The Future of Glass: Many innovations are discovered by contemporary artists exploring the limits of glass. Artists and the new directions of glass are explored—from the windows of the Boeing 787, to Saint Gobain's glass bridge, to fiber optic clothing, to artwork by glass masters Lino Tagliapietra, Vladimira Klumpar, Dante Marioni, Steven Weinberg and Jon Kuhn. The Glass Experience is an interactive and enlightening exhibit that will teach guests how the art, science and technology of glass influence our culture, lifestyle and economy in a multitude of ways. This exhibit requires an additional ticket with a specified entry time. -- www.msichicago.org