((PKG))  CITY OF GLASS  
((Banner:  Filmed Before the COVID-19 pandemic)) 
((Banner:  City of Glass)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  Jeff Swicord)) 
((Producer/Editor:  Jacquelyn De Phillips)) 
((Assistant Editor:  Julia Smith)) 
((Map:  Toledo, Ohio))    
((Main characters:  1 male;  1 female))  
((MUSIC))  
((NATS:  Glass blowing))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art)) 
I started working with glass in 1999 and decided that this 
was for me.  
((NATS))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
So, right now we have a solid piece of glass on the end of a 
hollow pipe.  In order to start a bubble, I’ll blow into the pipe, 
trap the air inside of the pipe with my thumb and force it out 
through the molten glass.  
((NATS))   
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art)) 
I am attracted to the medium of glass because of its physical 
properties.   
((NATS:   
Alan Iwamura:  Blow a little harder.))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
The way that it behaves using centrifugal force, using 
gravity, this kind of plasticity that it has, as well as the fact 
that it's a material that you can't really physically touch with 
the hand until it's actually cooled down.  It's something that 
really requires a lot of attention and a lot of respect.     
((MUSIC/NATS))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
Toledo is the glass city because of the industry in the 
area.  We have the Libbey Glass Company, Owens-Illinois, 
Owens Corning, NSG Pilkington.   
((MUSIC/NATS:  Alan and Diane walk through museum))  
((Diane Wright, Curator of Glass, Toledo Museum of Art))  
This is the kind of work that Libby Glass was making when 
they first moved to Toledo.  They came here from New 
England in 1888 and at the time the company was kind of 
struggling.   
((Courtesy stills:  Toledo Museum of Art))  
((Diane Wright, Curator of Glass, Toledo Museum of Art)) 
So, Libby actually packed up the physical factory and the 
workers and moved here and set up shop here in Toledo   
((MUSIC)) 
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
You can see with the elaborate surface treatment of the 
vessel, just how much work actually went into it.  And then to 
find out that all of these decorative elements were actually 
carved and polished by hand, just really illustrates the 
amount of care and effort that went into these types of 
pieces.  
((MUSIC))  
((Popup Banner:  The Birth of the Studio Glass Movement))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
The Toledo Museum of Art was the place that sparked an 
entire art movement.  The museum itself is something that 
one studies as a student of glass.  
((MUSIC))   
((Courtesy stills:  Toledo Museum of Art))  
((Diane Wright, Curator of Glass, Toledo Museum of Art)) 
A man named Harvey Littleton came to the museum and 
initiated a series of workshops.  And he invited other 
ceramicists to come and just explore and experiment with 
the material.  This workshop turned into another workshop 
and really acted as this catalyst and this watershed moment 
for glass being something that comes out of the factory and 
into the hands of the individual artists.  
((Courtesy stills:  Toledo Museum of Art)) 
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
A lot of the artists in this case that participated in the original 
workshops went on to teach themselves across the country. 
Some of whom are still doing so.  It's really amazing to see 
how influential all of this was and how it's still so relevant 
today.  
((MUSIC/NATS 
Alan Iwamura:  Stop.))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art)) 
I think that with any glass maker, you know, there's so much 
credit that needs to be given to the steps taken by those 
pioneers back in ‘62.   
((NATS:  Glass blowing 
Alan Iwamura:  Flip.)) 
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
A lot of the technique, a lot of the ways in which ideas can 
coalesce with material, has to be given credit to those 
workshops and to the history of this area.  
((MUSIC/NATS:  Glass blowing))  
((Alan Iwamura, Glass Studio Manager, Toledo Museum 
of Art))  
The fact that I'm making work out of glass is a direct result of 
the history of Toledo and the Toledo Museum of Art.   
((MUSIC/NATS))