Transparent Thresholds Symposium, November 2026

August 11, 2026

November 6-7, 2026, WheatonArts presents the Transparent Thresholds Symposium (click for event webpage).

The interdisiplinary event is led by Jocelyne Prince (Artist & Professor, Glass Department, Rhode Island School of Design) and Anna Riley (Artist & Doctoral student, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University) in conjunction with the Museum of American Glass special exhibitions Portals and Passages and Ghost Optics. (Click here for more information on the organizers and consultants)

Transparent Thresholds will examine the evolution of flat glass manufacturing with the goal of broadening the understanding of material, labor and craft in contemporary art and beyond in relation to our mechanized age. It asks the questions: How can the history of window and flat glass technology reshape contemporary practice with glass across various fields? How can revisiting this history help reframe dominant narratives about the built and technological environment?

The symposium brings together artists, scholars, architects and engineers to explore the embodied intelligence of industrial glassmaking and reclaim this history as a source of creative and educational innovation. By bringing historical and industrial knowledge into the studio, this collaborative event seeks to expand the vocabulary of glassmaking, foster interdisciplinary discussion, and generate new forms of creative and technical engagement.

The symposium features four speakers, researchers and practitioners from glass, archeology and material science (click here for more information on the speakers):

  • Lindsy R. Parrott, Executive director and curator of The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass
  • Mudit Trivedi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University
  • Peter Houk, Artistic director of the MIT Glass Lab and independent artist
  • Michael Stern, Professor of Practice, Creative Technology, RIT and Founder/Lead of Evenline

It also will present two “think-and-do” sessions combining discussion and hands-on studio-scale experimentation using these processes: Lubbers draw, Fourcault draw, rolled, cast, and cylinder production methods.

The two day symposium held at WheatonArts in Millville, New Jersey, is limited to 50 attendees. Click here to register.

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