Decorative Arts Council Annual Lecture: Artistry and Innovation in American Glass

Decorative Arts Council Annual Lecture: Artistry and Innovation in American Glass

Drawing from the rich collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, Alexandra Ruggiero will explore the history of glass in America. As America’s first industry, glassmaking was deeply influenced by immigrants from varying traditions.  The many styles and techniques adapted from other cultures converged, creating a uniquely American approach to glassmaking.  From bottles to lighting, railroad lanterns to tableware, glass was a central part of daily life, praised for its diverse application in both art and industry.

Free for Decorative Arts Council Members, $15 CMCH members, $20 non-members. Refreshments and wine will be served.

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 About the Speaker: Alexandra Ruggiero

Alexandra Ruggiero joined The Corning Museum of Glass in 2012. She assists with acquisitions, exhibitions, cataloging and research of the Museum’s glass collections, with a focus on the American, Modern, and Contemporary collections. Ruggiero co-curated the 2016 special exhibition, Fragile Legacy: The Marine Invertebrate Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, with Dr. Marvin Bolt, curator of science and technology.

Ruggiero received a bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master’s in the History of Decorative Arts through the Corcoran College of Art + Design and Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C. Her graduate research focused on 20th-century German glass and furniture.

Before arriving at The Corning Museum of Glass, Ruggiero served as a curatorial research assistant at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and as a decorative arts research specialist intern at the Library of Congress. More recently, Ruggiero served as the Luce curatorial assistant in American glass, the result of a one-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to catalog the Museum’s American glass collection (2012-2013).