UrbanGlass

UrbanGlass
Name	UrbanGlass
Type	Nonprofit arts organization
Established	1977
Location	Brooklyn, New York City, United States
Director	[]

UrbanGlass UrbanGlass is a nonprofit glassmaking studio and arts organization based in Brooklyn, New York City. It operates as a production facility, education center, exhibition venue, and community hub for contemporary glass artists, designers, and educators. Founded in 1977, the organization has played a role in the development of studio glass practices in the United States and maintains connections with museums, universities, and artist residencies.

History

UrbanGlass was founded in 1977 amid the expansion of the American studio glass movement alongside figures and institutions such as Harvard University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School, and artists associated with the movement like Dale Chihuly, Harvey Littleton, Bill Gudenrath, and Dominick Labino. Early activity intersected with Brooklyn cultural institutions including Brooklyn Museum, New York University, Pratt Institute, and the rise of artist-run spaces in SoHo, Manhattan and DUMBO, Brooklyn. Over decades the organization navigated shifting arts funding environments tied to foundations like the Guggenheim Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts while collaborating with curators from the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Significant milestones included relocation and expansion phases that connected UrbanGlass with neighborhood planning efforts in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and the broader Brooklyn Waterfront revitalization.

Facilities and Campus

UrbanGlass’s campus includes multiple hotshop furnaces, coldworking benches, kilns, and studios, comparable in scope to facilities at Pilchuck Glass School, Corning Museum of Glass, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and university glass programs at Alfred University. The site provides specialized equipment such as annealing ovens used in workflows familiar to practitioners from institutions like Rhode Island School of Design, California College of the Arts, and Cranbrook Academy of Art. The building layout supports public programming in gallery spaces similar to those operated by Cooper Hewitt, Museum of Arts and Design, and artist-run galleries in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The campus has been developed with input from architects and urban planners linked to projects in DUMBO, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and other adaptive reuse initiatives in New York City.

Programs and Education

UrbanGlass offers workshops, certificate programs, and professional development courses that mirror curricula at Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Craft, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and academic programs at University of Washington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and SUNY New Paltz. Instructors have included artists and educators associated with Cooper Union, School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, and visiting artists from museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Studio residencies and apprenticeship models at UrbanGlass align with practices at MacDowell, Yaddo, and artist residency networks like Res Artis. Professional development partnerships have connected UrbanGlass with design firms, architecture studios, and public art programs managed by municipalities such as New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Collections and Exhibitions

The organization's exhibition program has presented work by artists whose pieces are held in collections at the Corning Museum of Glass, Museum of Arts and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Victoria and Albert Museum. UrbanGlass has organized thematic exhibitions and curated collaborations that reference curatorial practices at institutions like Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Jewish Museum (New York). Exhibitions have featured techniques and objects linked to historical collections at Corning Incorporated and contemporary donation programs similar to those at Museum of Glass, Tacoma.

Community Engagement and Outreach

UrbanGlass engages with local communities through partnerships with neighborhood organizations, public schools such as PS 8 (Brooklyn), cultural festivals in Brooklyn Borough President's office initiatives, and municipal arts efforts coordinated with New York City Department of Education and Mayor of New York City cultural programs. Outreach models draw on precedents from community arts organizations including BRIC, Chashama, Culture Lab LIC, and regional makerspace networks like Newlab and TechShop. Public art collaborations have connected UrbanGlass with citywide initiatives such as temporary installations across the High Line and arts commissions similar to projects administered by the Public Art Fund and Percent for Art programs in other cities.

Notable Artists and Works

Artists associated with UrbanGlass programming include studio glass practitioners, designers, and sculptors who have exhibited at the Corning Museum of Glass, Museum of Arts and Design, Whitney Museum, Tate Modern, and university galleries at RISD Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and Columbia University. Notable names whose careers intersect with UrbanGlass-style institutions or collaborative projects include Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, Tara Donovan, Josiah McElheny, Kiki Smith, Maya Lin, Anish Kapoor, Mary Frank, Tomas Saraceno, Erwin Wurm, Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson, Philippe Starck, Tom Sachs, Rachel Whiteread, Jeff Koons, Isamu Noguchi, Louise Bourgeois, Brendan Fernandes, Ann Hamilton, Nick Cave (artist), Matthew Barney, Sterling Ruby, Kathy Butterly, Ghada Amer, Shirin Neshat, Dahn Vo, Rashid Johnson, Elizabeth Peyton, Julie Mehretu, Mona Hatoum, Tracey Emin, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Yayoi Kusama—artists whose practices have overlapped with glass, installation, and collaborative fabrication in major museums and biennials worldwide.

Category:Arts organizations based in New York City Category:Glassmaking