Glass was long overlooked as a material of high art. Hallie Meredith, associate professor of art history, aims to shift the narrative of glassmakers from craftspeople to artists.
Her Community Perspectives Tour focused on the permanent exhibit in the Center for Undergraduate Education. All the pieces on display are part of the Marian E. Smith Glass Collection, featuring blown and cast works from artists in the Pacific Northwest.
Debbie Morrison, Lewis-Clark Valley resident and regular attendee of museum events said there needs to be an emphasis on the importance of fostering a love for art early in life.
“We really try to keep up with what’s going on here at the museum,” Morrison said. “When the show changes, we like to come up.”
The event was well-attended by students, community members and other faculty from the Fine Arts Department. Its informal structure allowed attendees to ask questions about the process, artists and techniques. Meredith used this opportunity to share her expertise on glass.
“I was just hooked,” she said. “It’s so intensive and so interesting.”
She said the physicality of glassmaking, describing the punty—a long metal rod used to blow glass—as the “umbilical cord” of a piece, leaving a remnant that resembles a belly button. Meredith likened the process of learning glassblowing to watching a ballerina become aware of her feet, a skill honed through years of practice.
The WSU glass collection includes works by renowned artist Dale Chihuly. Chihuly, who can no longer blow glass due to injuries, hires talented artists to execute his visions, according to an interview with PBS News Hour.
However, these artists often go uncredited. Meredith’s research highlights the contributions of such craftspeople and challenges the art world’s traditional hierarchy.
“You have the mere craft workers, the people who are your laborers, and they’re the ones who do what you want because you’re the famous name,” she said.
While Meredith’s research focuses on antiquity, it translates to modern art and other mediums like pottery and textiles—materials traditionally seen as women’s work and undervalued as a result.
“These false ideas of a hierarchy are going out the window,” Meredith said. “More people are questioning these binaries and they see they’re very reductive and don’t really bear fruit.”
Glassmaking is a tactile and performative art form that demands physical precision and space. Meredith said understanding these materials is essential to appreciating sculptural art.
“I think any material, regardless of what it is, I’m really fascinated by how it’s made, who makes it and why, and the questions around making,” she said.