Corning Museum of Glass

One of man's earliest accomplishments was the creation of glass.

Nowadays, it would be difficult to imagine life without glass. And besides the utilitarian use of glass, there is also the artistic side.

Today's FamilyFirst site is the Corning Museum of Glass. The museum is located in Corning, New York. Here's their mission:

At The Corning Museum of Glass, glass isn't just for looking at or looking through. At our Museum, you can explore, research, touch, work with, and interact with glass.

Even though you need to travel to New York to see the real museum, the online museum presence is pretty impressive in its own right.

For example, check out the hot glass show. You can view streaming video clips as artisans take molten glass and turn them into beautiful works of art.

However, what will really catch your eye is the beautiful galleries of glass. I'll let them explain:

The Glass Collection Galleries show the most comprehensive and celebrated glass collection in the world. The galleries explore Near Eastern, Asian, European, and American glass and glassmaking from antiquity through present day. They tell the story of glass creation, from a full-scale model of an Egyptian furnace to the grand factories of Europe, and, then America, and finally, to the small-scale furnaces that fueled the Studio Glass movement that began in America in 1962. The galleries contain objects representing every country and historical period in which glassmaking has been practiced.

There are ancient glass pieces on display that look great online. There are also more modern-day examples, such as some paperweights that will blow you away.

Have fun, but if you break it, you bought it! ;-)

http://www.cmog.org

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