Symposium
November 6-7, 2026
WheatonArts
Millville, New Jersey

How can the history of window and flat glass technology reshape contemporary practice with glass across various fields? This symposium examines the evolution of flat glass manufacturing with the goal of broadening our understanding of material, labor, and craft in a mechanized age. Central to the symposium will be the “think-and-do” sessions combining discussion and hands-on testing of these processes. Lubbers draw, Fourcault draw, rolled, cast, and cylinder production methods will be applied to studio-scale experimentation.

Transparent Thresholds aims to bring 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. Presenters include researchers and practitioners from glass, archeology, and material science. 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.

Presenters
● Lindsy 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