Glass WorkshopsEvery year Foci MCGA invites glass artists from around the world to teach unique workshops that extend beyond our usual core studio classes. Workshops cover a range of specialized topics in each of our studios including glassblowing and sculpting, kilnforming, coldworking, and neon.
Foci MGCA offers a full-tuition scholarship open to BIPOC and a need based half-tuition scholarship open to anyone with financial need. Find out more about our scholarship opportunities here.
Visiting Artist
Reserve your spot with a nonrefundable deposit. After purchasing, you will be emailed two separate invoices for $397.50 each. The full cost of this workshop is $995, due 12/15/24.
The deposit is only required for those who prefer a payment plan.
5 day workshop from April 9-13, 2025. Wednesday-Sunday 9am-5pm
Registration Deadline 2/26/25
Prerequisite: None!
Mind Benders: Neon Exploration
2025 Spring Visiting Artist James Akers
An all levels week long neon intensive centered around digital design and physical luminous tube fabrication. We will be taking this age old advertising material and repurposing it for our own artistic desires. Learn the basics of neon bending in the morning while learning how to create their free form designs and planned patterns with free open source vector design software after lunch. Students will create freeform luminous sculptures as well as digitally shareable designs that act as scale-able blueprints for their neon dreams.
$995/person
5 day workshop from April 9-13, 2025
Wednesday-Sunday 9am-5pm (with a daily 1 hour lunch break)
Prerequisite: None!
Registration Deadline 2/26/2025
Artist Biography
My name is James Akers, and I am an artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York where with my partner, Ali Feeney, run a neon fabrication company called Nebula Neon making neon for large and small commercial clients and artists. I grew up skateboarding, and modding video games in Maryland before receiving a BFA from Alfred University in 2015. I have fabricated neon lights for artists (big and small) and a long list of companies. My personal artwork has been shown in museums, galleries, fairs and houses around the world. Artistically, I make sculptures that usually light up, interested in themes of celebration and excess, digital surveillance and influence, “Where ideas come from?”, consumerism, and rebellious subversion.
5 day workshop from April 9-13, 2025
Wednesday-Sunday 9am-5pm
Registration Deadline 2/26/25
Prerequisite: None!
“Funkdafied”: Design & Color
2025 Winter Visiting Artist Workshop with Cedric Mitchell
Join us at Foci MCGA for a course that celebrates experimentation, learning from failures, and the endless possibilities of molten glass. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, you'll be inspired to push your creative boundaries and explore the interaction between design and color. Dive into color theory to bring depth and emotion to your work, and embrace an experimental mindset where "mistakes" lead to innovative art. Master a variety of glassblowing techniques, from traditional to modern, and develop your unique style. Join a vibrant community of artists, share ideas, and enjoy a journey enriched by collaborative learning. This hands-on course, divided into progressive modules, will guide you through the world of glassblowing, culminating in a personal portfolio of stunning artworks.
$990/person
5 day workshop from January 29 - February 2, 2025
Wednesday-Sunday 9am-5pm (with a daily 1 hour lunch break)
Prerequisite: Glassblowing 1 or equivalent
Class is currently sold out. Email contact@mnglassart.org to be added to the waitlist.
This programming is supported by funding from Arts MidwestArtist Biography
Cedric Major Mitchell, a Los Angeles-based glass artist originally from Oklahoma, honed his skills while studying business at Tulsa Community College. The Modern funk design he employs stands out for its vibrant colors, whimsical patterns, unconventional shapes, and the fusion of modernism and postmodernism. It rejects strict aesthetic rules, embracing individuality and self-expression. Cedric serves as the events coordinator for Crafting The Future, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to creative enrichment by connecting BIPOC artists with opportunities that propel their growth and success.
Previous Visiting Artist Workshops
Exploration in Coldworking Glass: From Cutting To Assemblage
2024 Visiting Artist Workshop with Jiyong Lee
Artist Biography: Jiyong Lee is a studio artist and educator who lives and works in Carbondale, Illinois as a professor of art and head of the glass program at Southern Illinois University. As an instructor, he also has taught at the Pilchuck Glass School, the Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, Penland School of Crafts, the Domaine de Boisbuchet (France), Canberra Glassworks (Australia), Fire Station Artists’ Studios (Dublin, Ireland), and various other art institutions and universities nationally and internationally. He has won a number of honors, including 2021 Finalist of Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, Bavarian State Prize from International Trade Fair, Munich Germany. His work was featured in American Craft Magazine, Neues Glas Germany, ‘New Glass Review’ of Corning Museum of Glass, and American Art Collector.
Extra-Ordinary: Repurposing Salvaged Stained Glass
2024 Local Artist Workshop with Michael Lizama
Michael Lizama is a graphic designer, illustrator, and stained glass artist. In 1978, Lizama graduated from Colorado State University with a BFA focusing on printmaking, graphic design, and biomedical illustration. He attended glass painting workshops by the late Dick Millard at the Antrim School in New Hampshire.
Pocketful of Rainbows: Pâte de Verre Glass Casting
2024 Visiting Artist Workshop with Sayaka Suzuki
Artist Biography: Originally from Yokohama, Japan, Sayaka Suzuki is a Richmond-based artist having received her MFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University. Suzuki creates works that explore her deep roots in Japanese culture in conjunction to her new adopted identity as an American immigrant. Exploring colors, designs and traditions of Japanese textiles, she explores this dual identity in forms of drawings, sculptures and installations.
Suzuki has taught widely including the Corning Museum of Glass, Bullseye Glass Research Center, Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Penland School of Crafts among others. Her works have been exhibited nationally including solo exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art and Pensacola Museum of Art (FL) Group shows include the Washington Project for the Arts-Corcoran (DC), New Mexico Museum of Art ,Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (Korea), and Museo Crocetti (Italy). Suzuki is a recent recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship and was a recent fellow at the Vermont Studio Center.
I’ll make you a punty you can’t refuse! (A crash course in American-style Venetian techniques)
2024 Visiting Artist Class with Jason McDonald
Artist Biography: Jason McDonald is a glass artist with a particular passion for Venetian furnace techniques. He uses these techniques to speak about barriers BIPOC people face in accessing creative spaces, as well as the wild joy of chasing technical pursuits. He began his glass career at the age of 14 at the hilltop artist program, Tacoma Washington. He is a Windgate Fellowship recipient, was a contestant on ‘Blown Away’ Season 2, and has been awarded residencies at Pittsburgh Glass Center and Pilchuck Glass School. He has taught at Penland School of Craft, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts, The Studio at Corning Museum of Glass, Urban Glass, and elsewhere. He received his BFA with honors at California College of Art and was awarded the presidential fellowship at Tyler School of Art & Architecture where he earned his MFA.
Confidence in Adornment: Flameworked Jewelry
2023 Visiting Artist Workshop with SaraBeth Post Eskuche
Artist Biography
SaraBeth Post is a Pittsburgh based, multi-faceted artist utilizing glass in sculpture, functional wares, and jewelry. She earned her BFA in Glass + 3D Studios from the University of Louisville. Her studies of pattern & color pave a path to explore human development juxtaposed to spirituality. SaraBeth creates functional wares and jewelry under the name Ultra Lit.
The Ultra Lit jewelry line aims to embody confidence. Glass is the primary material for its ability to mimic precious material like gemstones. Each blown bead or ring is made through the process of flameworking. Ultra Lit Inspiration comes from a childlike approach to dressing up and 90’s nostalgia.
“I have found the impact of jewelry in our environment and on our bodies can transform our confidence in a grand, positive way.” - SaraBeth Post
Reduce, Reuse, ReFUSE: Experimental Kilnforming with Recycled Glass
2023 Visiting Artist Workshop with Morgan Gilbreath
Artist Biography
Morgan Gilbreath is a glass and mixed-media artist whose process-driven work investigates the intersections between religion, history, and labor. She holds a BFA in Glass and a BA in Art History from Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in Philadelphia. She completed residencies at the Creative Glass Center of America (Wheaton Arts), Pilchuck Glass School, and the University of Texas Arlington. Exhibiting nationally and internationally, her work is in the permanent collection at the Museum of American Glass (Millville, NJ) and the Aldo Bellini Glass Collection at Castello Sforzesco (Milan, Italy). Morgan lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.
Alternative Approaches to Screen Print & Glass
2022 Visiting Artist Workshop With Jen Blazina
This five day beginner to intermediate level course explores the innovative approach of combining screen printing and glass through hands-on demonstrations and sample experimentation. Held July 2022.
Artist Biography: Jen Blazina blends surreal imagery and found objects in her cast glass sculptures. Blazina exhibits her work both internationally and nationally as well as her work can be viewed in museum collections and galleries. Blazina has been awarded numerous residencies and grants including: Bezalel Art and Design Academy in Jerusalem; the Corning Museum of Glass Artist in Residency, Corning, NY; European Ceramic Work Centre, Den Bosch, the Netherlands; Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA; a National Endowment for the Arts through the Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY; Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium; the Leeway Foundation Grant; and the Independence Foundation Grant.
Jen Blazina received a M.F.A., Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI; a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY; and a B.F.A., cum laude, from the State University of New York, Purchase College, Purchase, NY. Currently, Jen Blazina is an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
Get it Together!
2022 Visiting Artist Workshop with Megan Stelljes
This five-day intermediate workshop focuses on learning hot glass sculpting techniques concentrating on powder color application and hot assembly of multi-part sculptures. Held in January of 2022.
Artist Biography: A graduate of Emporia State University’s glass program, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, Megan Stelljes decided to pursue a career emphasizing glass while still in High School. Relocating to Washington state, it is there, apprenticing under glass sculptor Karen Willenbrink Johnson, that Megan was afforded the opportunity to create ties with the glass community and began actively working and teaching in her field. Finding a certain satisfaction in the rewards of sharing her media passion, Megan continues to instruct nationally.
Through tutelage from artist Jeremy Bert, Megan has expanded her practice to include neon, and has exhibited her work at the Museum of Neon Art. In 2019, she has exhibited work in neon and glass, as part of An Alternative History: The Other Glass, at the Heller Gallery in New York City, As in Also, at the Traver Gallery in Seattle, and New Glass Now at the Corning Museum of Glass. Indicative of Stelljes’ unique approach to glass, she combines neon and blown glass to poignant ends. Megan has recently co-founded with her husband Conor McClellan and partners Nicole and James Anderegg, Gray Barn Studios, a glass facility in Arlington, Washington.
Pattern & Form
2021 Visiting Artist Workshop with Corey Pemberton
This five-day intensive course invites experienced glassblowers to learn different approaches to cane and murrine, arranging motifs, rolling up patterns on collars and bubbles, and designing blown forms that best showcase the patterns. Held in October of 2021.
Artist Biography: Corey (American b. Reston, VA 1990) received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. He has completed residencies at The Pittsburgh Glass Center (PA), Bruket (Bodø, NO), as well as a Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts (NC). He currently resides in Los Angeles, California where he splits his time between Crafting the Future, production glass blowing, and his painting practice. Pemberton strives to bring together people of all backgrounds and identities, breaking down stereotypes and building bridges; not only through his work with the nonprofit, Crafting The Future, but with his personal artistic practice as well.
Finding Your Own Way: Hot Glass Sculpting
2020 Visiting Artist Workshop with Rob Stern
This five-day intermediate course seeks to develop the individual needs of each student while experimenting with materials, investigating methods, and seeks to achieve goals set through design and glassmaking exercises (both hot and cold). Held January 2020.
Artist Biography: Rob Stern (American b. Miami, FL) has been working with glass for over thirty years. He first began studying glass 1988 and holds a BFA from San Francisco State University and an MFA from the University of Miami. He apprenticed for 5 years with John Lewis Glass (Oakland, CA.) where he trained as a metal fabricator and expert glass caster/cold-worker. He then went on to train as a master in the Czech Republic in the Ajeto Glass Factory with Master Petr Novotny. Rob routinely conducts workshops around the world including Pilchuck Glass School (Washington), Penland School (North Carolina),The Glass Furnace (Turkey), Corning Museum of Glass (New York), and Bildwerk (Germany) as well as in various universities and private studios around the world. He led the glass program at the University of Miami and was a visiting guest professor in the Glass Department at the University of Texas, Arlington. Most recently, Rob was a featured contestant in the third season of Netflix glassblowing competition series ‘Blown Away’.
Cast & Cut
2019 Visiting Artist Workshop with František Janák
This five-day beginner to expert level course exploring a variety of coldworking glass techniques and training on equipment. Different methods of grinding, smoothing, and polishing tools and media will be used, as well as diamond, stone, and resin wheels. Held July 2019.
Artist Biography: František worked with glass material since the age of 15, when I attended a school for the apprentices to learn cut glass at the school belonging to the biggest Czech producer of hand cut lead crystal - Bohemia Glassworks. After one year of experience, Janák went to the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Kamenicky Senov, the oldest and first glass school in the world, founded 1856. He then began working as a glass cutter and his own studio practice. In 1975, he was accepted to the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague under professor Stanislav Libensky, receiving an MA after six years. Since this time František has been one of the greatest contributors of revitalizing the traditions of cold working. Janák has taught around the world including; Toyama Glass Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Pilchuck Glass School, Corning Studios, just to name a few.
2019 Visiting Artist Workshop with Nate Cotterman
This two-day intermediate weekend workshop, students will learn about basic design of the utilitarian object. Students will gain skills to develop their concepts into refined objects that are clean, sleek and purposeful. Held April 2019.
Artist Biography: Cotterman is a Los Angeles based glass designer/maker and working as a gaffer at 141 Penn Studio. He is known for his modern interpretation of glass objects, using traditional Venetian glass blowing techniques. Challenging low-end production with innovative design and handmade quality. His simple forms highlight the natural beauty of the material. Nate received his BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He has demonstrated across the US at institutions such Pittsburgh Glass Center and Pilchuck School of Glass. Nate Cotterman exhibits annually at the NY NOW International Gift Show’s Accent on Design. Nate's work is carried by retailers worldwide.
Classic Group by Nate Cotterman
2019 Visiting Artist Workshop with Angus Powers
This three-day intermediate level course will help students discuss how to work through ideas using their current skill sets, with encouragement to repurpose those skills. Students will discover new methods of constructing objects in the hot shop using bits and working as a team. Held March 2019.
Artist Biography: Angus M. Powers (American, b. 1978) works with blown and cast glass sculpture as well as creating installations and performative realities. His work pushes the viewer to consider multiple interpretations, challenging set notions of logic, scale, and perception. Currently the Glass Area Head at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Angus' attended the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University where he earned his BFA and received his Masters of Fine Art degree from Tyler School Of Art, Temple University. Powers has an extensive and international exhibition record. He is best known for his innovative and experimental approach to making glass.
2019 Visiting Artist Workshop with Jason Christian
This five-day intermediate to advanced level course introduces a variety of glassblowing techniques that center around venetian methods with modern sensibility and methods of using decorative color applications such as reticello and filligree.. Students receive in depth explanations about form, composition, and construction while dealing with scale and proportion. Held January 2019.
Artist Biography: Jason Christian is a glass artist living in the Seattle area. He became involved in glass art at the age of 21 — starting as a factory charger, slowly developing his glass knowledge through experience. He has worked with a variety of well-known artists in the Seattle community, including Martin Blank, Preston Singletary, James Mongraine, and Nancy Callan. For almost a decade he has been an integral member of Dale Chihuly's boathouse team, collaborating and working with international artists, including Pino Singnoretti. His individual work explores the art of reticello, classical Venetian techniques, and modern simplicity. As of recent, he has been developing art inspired by the works of Fabergé- combining the delicate complexity of reticello with the intricate detailing Fabergé's eggs are known for.
2018 Visiting Artist Workshop with Leo Tecosky
Five-day course covering different color application techniques and creating imagery through glassmaking held August of 2018.
Artist Biography: Leo Tecosky creates sculpture and installation using traditional glassblowing and neon-bending techniques, and screen printing, as well as using found and constructed elements. Recently, he has taken printmaking to a more sculptural level by allowing for a collage of 3-D glass imagery. Tecosky is influenced by hip hop and graffiti art and culture in Miami, where he grew up. With a BA in Fine Art from Alfred University and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Tecosky teaches at studios and schools in Brooklyn, nationally, and internationally. He lives and works in Brooklyn, blowing glass and maintaining a studio practice.
Painting on Glass: Enameling
2018 Visiting Artist Workshop with Cappy Thompson
Five-day workshop teaching students how to mix, paint and fire vitreous enamels, including the grisaille or grey-tonal method of painting on glass. Held in June of 2018.
Artist Biography: Painting on glass since 1976, Cappy Thompson of Seattle, Washington, has been described as “the major practitioner of the art of transparent enameling in the American Studio glass movement.” She is known for her reverse-painted vessels, which have been shown and collected world-wide. Her largest work is a 90 feet long narrative window at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Cappy is an experienced teacher who communicates a whole-hearted enthusiasm for glass art. She has taught at Pilchuck, Penland and other art programs internationally. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Washington Artist Trust Fellowship and Pilchuck’s Libensky Award.
A Surrealist’s Attitude
2018 Visiting Artist Workshop with Paul Marioni
Five-day course teaching the entire process of glass sandcasting start to finish held in May of 2018.
Artist Biography: Paul Marioni, one of the founding members of the American Studio Glass movement, is based in Seattle and creates sculptures and vessels that incorporate humor, images of taboo sexuality, genre figures, tribal masks, photographs, and visual puns.
Today Paul lives and works in Seattle, where he has built a successful career as an independent artist. He works with blown glass, which might be painted with enamels, and cast glass, which he combines with other mediums, such as photography. He has completed more than 85 public commissions, including cast glass walls, ceilings, and skylights. Known as an innovator in the glass world, Marioni pushes his techniques to their limits, regularly redefining what is possible to achieve with the material.
Marioni graduated in 1967 from the University of Cincinnati, and is a Fellow of the American Crafts Council. He has received three fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts. He has taught at the Penland School of Crafts and at the Pilchuck Glass School.
Murrini Crash Course
2018 Visiting Artist Workshop with Penelope Rakov
One-day crash course in pulling and constructing glass murrini held in March of 2018.
Artist Biography: Penelope Rakov has been working with glass for 20 years and has her studio in beautiful Central New York. She began her formal arts education at Alfred University (1996 – 2000). After receiving her Bachelor Fine Arts degree in Glass and Ceramics, she was offered a nine-month residency in ceramics at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine. Penelope went on to get her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University (2003 – 2005). She has taught and worked in many glass studios since then, including Pittsburgh Glass Center, Stourbridge in the UK, Tyler School of Art, East Falls Glassworks, Salem Community College, and the Studio at Corning Museum of Glass. Penelope is best known for her Murrini glass jewelry work, which she sells through museum stores, galleries and boutique stores across the country.
Imagery & Form
2018 Visiting Artist Workshop with Dave Walters
Five-day workshop utilizing traditional venetian techniques, developing imagery in relation to composition/form, and the basic mixing and applying of enamels to glass. Held in January of 2018.
Artist Biography: After receiving his BFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design, David Walters moved to Seattle to work for Dale Chihuly, for whom he still works to this day. There, he met Lino Tagliapietra and also began working as his assistant, a role he has had for 17 years that has taken him all over the world and provided the central influence in his life and work. Walters began experimenting with his signature painted enamel on glass technique during a 1995 residency at the Creative Glass Center of America in Millville, NJ (where he had another residency in 2004), an intricate narrative style that distinguishes him from other glass artists. He is in several prominent, private, and museum collections. He’s also traveled and demonstrated extensively around the country at several colleges and glass programs.