Yesterday evening, the American Craft Council Library hosted a salon with Fulton Brewery and Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Arts. The heart of the program was the history and intersection of beer brewing and glass blowing. It was a fascinating program, well-attended with an interested audience. Fulton brought growlers of three of their beers, and Foci artists were challenged to create a glass, based on drawings of historic glasses. I took some pictures to share; here’s the table of glasses from left to right:

Ryan West, from Foci, talked about the history of these styles of glasses. I didn’t take notes, but he spoke about the importance of the Romans and their advancement and standardization of the art of glass blowing. With the ending of the Roman Empire, glass blowing traditions were completely lost in some regions of the world.

Perfectly clear glass was difficult to achieve, due to minerals in the silica.

This program was held in the library – those vertical files you see behind the glasses are artists’ files. There are about 3,000 files of artists in all media, and may contain biographical information, photographs, exhibition information, and more.

More beautiful glasses from Foci artists.

The book you see on the table was the one Foci artists referenced to make their glasses. Yes, that is a glass boot. Also, a glass chicken – I think that was based on a Scandinavian glass? Behind these glasses, you can see some of the ACC Library’s stacks.

It was a very enjoyable program. The next Salon will be embroidering star ornaments, based on various northern European traditions. I’m looking forward to it!