Glass students honored for work at international exhibition
Several Art and Design Department students at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point were honored for their glass work in June, bringing home thousands of dollars in awards from the Glass Artists Society Conference.
The students were honored at the International Students Exhibition as part of the conference, which marked the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement in the United States. Fifteen students and five faculty and staff members attended the three full days of demonstrations, lectures and networking opportunities in addition to exhibiting artwork.
“The students presented an extremely strong body of work,” said Kristin Thielking, a professor of art and design who accompanied them. “Conference attendees spoke very highly of the strong and positive presence that UW-Stevens Point brought to the event.” Also attending the event with the students was Jon Chapman, currently a visiting professor in hot glass working at UW-Stevens Point. Chapman has been instrumental in helping promote the UW-Stevens Point glass/sculpture program and in particular the students and their work, Thielking said.
Jeremy Thompson of Wisconsin Dells won first place at the exhibit and was awarded $3,000 worth of equipment and tools for glass studio artwork. He was also interviewed by the editor of Glass Magazine and his work will be published in the Glass Artists Society’s annual journal. Thompson was also invited to attend a three-week session with glass artist John de Witt at the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle, WA this summer. Pilchuck offered him a $1,900 scholarship to attend the session.
Liz Weston of Shorewood was invited to assist at an established hot glass studio outside of London during her study abroad program this fall. Shannon Piette of Appleton was selected to be a student representative on the Glass Artists Society’s Board of Directors and will work with leaders in the field as well as at next year’s conference in Boston, Mass.
Jeff Heath of Algonquin, Ill. and Dawn Passineau of Amherst Junction both received $1,300 scholarships for sessions at Pilchuck Glass School. Both will also be busy this summer, with Heath teaching hot glass at the educational studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, and Passineau awarded a prestigious summer internship at the Chrysler Museum of Art hot glass studio in Norfolk, Va.
The students were also invited to the Glass Olympics at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., this fall, which will be attended by several other universities. All of the students will give a public presentation of their conference experiences this fall in the Noel Fine Arts Center on campus. For more information, contact Thielking at Kristin.Thielking@uwsp.edu or 715-346-3450.
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