Corning,NY

Corning,NY

Monday, 01. April 2013

 

Happy Easter!

Just one day of Easter in Corning. As Easter Monday is not a holiday in the USA, we had to make the most of the one day: searching for Easter eggs, a long and lazy breakfast and a canoe tour on the river. Today we simply grabbed the canoe and carried it on our heads upstream through town. At the top we lowered it into the water and ran the rapids back down. As soon as we had made it back home the weather broke and it rained continuously.  We’ve already been here in Corning for two weeks and are still browsing the world’s greatest library every day after work. Apart from that there are a lot of different jobs for us to do here.

Last week, Louise assisted Maria Bang Espersen with her final presentation in the glass studio, as until Sunday she was the artist in residence. At her presentation last Thursday, she put a small piece of apple between freshly extracted glass and had it blown until it was so thin that it burst with a loud bang. Before Maria started, Louise had handed out protective glasses to comply with American health and safety regulations, so the entire audience sat there ‘protected’ in their seats. Unfortunately Franca missed the performance as she was in need of an American dentist. She also had to wear protective glasses, however, as the dentist’s lights were so strong. We will have to get used to this permanent eyewear!

Corning has about the same size and compactness as Zwiesel, where we’ve both spent quite a bit of time. You can quickly walk from the studio to the museum, and by bike, canoe or foot you are just as quickly in the countryside. But what we like most are the library and all the experiences we’ve had in the studio of the museum. Louise has had three very old books on glass history copied and bound in the library. There is something new happening every day in the studio and there are always different glass makers from the region who we can watch at work, or even assist.