Published: September 24, 2008 11:28 am      

TRAVEL: Corning museum is a real glass

CORNING — Who knew glass could be so interesting?

With more than 45,000 objects in its collection, the Corning Museum of Glass details the history, science, culture and technology behind glass in a better-than-expected fashion.

The museum was founded by and named after world-renowned glass manufacturer Corning Inc., but it does not serve as a company showcase. Rather, you see thousands of glass items bent, stretched and contorted into forms you never thought possible.

Museum-goers can tour the facility alone or with a docent; a volunteer who led this reporter through the building might be the world’s foremost expert on glass, as he knew the history of every artifact as well as the reaction that resulted from mixing any chemical you could name with glass.

The tour begins with an art display featuring various glass sculptures that magnificently crafted, including a giant green number that had branches of twisting glass spouting off in every direction. Even the building itself is a work of art, as most of the walls are made of glass laid at a slight angle to create more inviting aesthetics, with a custom tint applied to preserve the older pieces of the collection.

These older pieces occupy the next stop on the tour, which details the history of glass-making — which many would be surprised began hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. Those early glass-makers could only make tiny vessels and figurines, but the advent of glass-blowing hundreds of years later made for the crafting of bigger, more practical devices.

This section of the museum goes on to discuss the role alchemists had in glass’ evolution (their knowledge of mineral reactions helped those who worked in glass create custom colors) and the development of looks versus practicality (in the Middle Ages, European glass-makers put giant ridges on the handles of their glasses so that diners — who still were without utensils at the time — wouldn’t drop their vessels).

Even if history isn’t your thing, there’s a lot — as one would expect — to admire just for the looks, from giant Austrian chandeliers to complex American stained-glass windows. There’s also a brief section detailing the history of the Corning company, which within years of moving into the small Finger Lakes city became that region’s main manufacturer.

For those who may be tired of stodgy museum exhibits by this point, the facility offers numerous demonstrations to detail the many facets of glass-making. The Glass Innovation Center hosts shows on the “magical” properties of glass, flame-working and glass-breaking, with a hot glass show letting spectators see how 2,300-degree orange-hot gelatinous goo becomes a gorgeous bowl in a matter of minutes; this show moves to an outdoor pavilion when weather permits.

If you want to get in the action, there are workshops offered that allow members of the public to blow and form glass, fuse glass layers and create frosted designs on glass — you get to keep what you make, too.

Elsewhere in town

A good portion of the 370,000 annual visitors to the museum are Asian tourists making the cross-state trip from Niagara Falls to New York City, according to Yvette Sterbenk, the museum’s communications manager.

Many of these tourists stay in the city overnight, and upon venturing off museum grounds they’re greeted with a small-town setting that looks more like a concoction created on a movie lot than an actual community.

The city, with a rough population of 10,800, looks much like it must have when the Corning Glass Works moved there from Brooklyn in the 1800s; if Harold Hill had been marching down the street singing about those 76 trombones, nobody would have thought twice about it. Due to Corning’s financial and social dominance, Corning is known as the Crystal City.

A few minutes away from the museum is East Market Street, one of the city’s main commercial thoroughfares that’s dominated by small, family-owned businesses. Lined with restaurants, boutiques and other shops, every building on the street is a two- or three-story structure like you’d see at the turn of the 20th century, with the business on the ground floor and apartments above them.

A quick trip down East Market Street led us to Aniello’s Pizzeria, where a lunch visit failed to disappoint. The shop specializes in New York-style pizza that’s a bit thinner than you get in Western New York but is full of flavor and holds as many toppings as the dough will support. Samples of their cheese and chicken wing pizzas left us happy, with the portions plentiful enough that we had some to enjoy when we got home. The staff was definitely from a small town, as well, as each of our requests was greeted with a smile and a willingness to please.

The Chemung River, which flows through Corning, completes the postcard view that’s started by the cascading hills that encompass the area. The scene might remind anyone who’s been to Las Vegas of the mountains that surround Sin City, except in Corning they’re a beautiful shade of green.

We didn’t get there, but Corning is also home to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, a gallery on Cedar Street that showcases American Western and Native American creations.

Coming up

The museum will host Halloween-themed activities through the end of October, after which time a shift will be made to celebrating the glass holiday ornament.

Through November and December, ornament-making workshops will take place, as will special holiday exhibits. An open house Dec. 6-7 will feature free admission.

Contact editor Paul Lane at 693-1000, ext. 116.



IF YOU GO

• WHAT: Corning Museum of Glass

• WHERE: 1 Museum Way, Corning

• HOURS: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year’s Day

• MORE INFORMATION: Call (800) 732-6845 or visit cmog.org

• PAUL’S TIPS:

1. Make sure to watch/take part in as many of the demonstrations and workshops as possible. The museum’s craftsmen can make pristine glassware in the time it takes most people to blow their noses, and nothing beats taking home a souvenir yo made yourself.

2. The museum is about a three-hour drive from Niagara County, so consider staying overnight in Corning. There’s more than you’d expect to the museum, so you’ll want to have most of the day available to visit.

3. Also consider leaving time to see some of the sights along the Southern Tier Expressway (I-86), which cuts through the Allegheny Plateau and offers numerous breathtaking views of the mountainous region.