With the help of a visiting artist and technician, UofL students are pitching in to construct two new furnaces for glass works at the Cressman Center. Eddie Bernard, founder of Wet Dog Glass, is leading a furnace-building workshop from Feb. 12-18 for students in the glass program.
Bernard will give a public lecture at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 18, at Cressman that details his career as a glass artist and his role as a world-renowned designer and builder of equipment for glass studios across the globe.
The Cressman Center for Visual Arts, 100 East Main St., is the home of UofL’s studio arts glass program, and the furnaces at Cressman have always been a labor of love for students.
“Since the Cressman Center for Visual Arts opening seven years ago, UofL students have been fully responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of all hot glass equipment,” said Ché Rhodes, associate professor in the glass program.
This is the first time the furnaces have been replaced since students built the original equipment.
Tuesday’s talk will be the culmination of the workshop. Bernard, an esteemed glass artist, has led a number of hot glass sculpting workshops nationally and internationally. Additionally, he was a founding board member of the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute (NOGCI) and has served on the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society (GAS), Central Park NC and the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+).
Bernard’s lecture is free and open to the public. In addition to the talk, there will be a small reception.