CMOG does a very nice thing: glass videos

Ask and ye shall receive, apparently.

The Corning Museum of Glass, one of my favorite places on earth, just released 40 video clips about various glass studio techniques, and most of them are well worth watching. It’s a vast improvement over their first rich media forays, i.e., semi-audible podcasts with a few still images.

I moaned a bit about that in a previous blogpost, and bedogged if they didn’t fix it by releasing these clips. Since I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next installment of their masterclass series (which so far hasn’t materialized), this is a great consolation prize. Much happiness and joy.

There are segments on glassblowing, coldworking, flameworking, kilnforming, casting, etc. Most are about some aspect of glassblowing (not surprising given the fact that it’s CMOG). Audio is clear, (the voices of David Whitehouse and Bill Gudenrath in the segments I’ve seen so far) photography is sharp and well-lighted and the information is useful. The segments are pretty basic, but give you a good look at what is meant by, say, “battuto.”

You can download the small versions directly from Corning’s web site, or purchase the full-sized versions directly from Corning. I’m doing the latter and adding it to my library.

Happy sigh.

They haven’t entirely abandoned the audio-only podcast format, which is still a pity since this is such a visual medium. Tina Oldknow, museum curator and annual glass review maven, interviews the definitely UN-neutral Marvin Lipofsky in the latest.

Here’s another cool idea, although unless you’re planning to visit the museum you’ll wind up mostly frustrated: Corning has uploaded its audiobook tour files–the tourguide-in-a-box narratives that many museums now use to tell the audience what it’s looking at. The idea is that you can download it to your MP3 player and avoid a headset rental charge when you visit.

Just FYI, CMOG’s done more than this to beef up its website. I’ve been using its art search tool for a little while now, but I think they only formally released it this week. It’s great for finding and learning about historic glass pieces. Give it a whirl…

Gosh. Haven’t been to CMOG in a couple of years at least. Obviously, it’s time for another visit. Cheers….

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