Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio | Exhibition Trailer

Why It Matters

Revealing women’s hidden legacy reshapes the studio‑glass market, prompting collectors and institutions to recognize and invest in a more inclusive artistic canon.

Key Takeaways

• Women glass artists fought gender norms to enter studio glass.
• Exhibition reveals previously unseen works from women’s archives.
• Historical narratives have omitted women’s contributions to American glass.
• Curators aim to broaden perspective on glass art’s origins.
• New stories inspire future generations of diverse glassmakers.

Summary

The trailer announces “Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio,” an exhibition that brings to light the overlooked contributions of female glass artists in the United States. It positions the show as a corrective to a male‑dominated narrative that has long defined the studio‑glass movement.

The film stresses that women were present from the field’s inception, working in studios, teaching, and innovating, yet their work often remained in storage or absent from museum catalogues. Curators have now retrieved pieces from private collections, revealing a breadth of techniques and aesthetics that shaped contemporary glass.

The narrator’s defiant remarks—“I’m going to be a glass blower…nothing will stop me”—illustrate the personal resolve that drove many women to persist despite societal expectations. The exhibition also highlights stories of artists who declared they would “die trying” to pursue their craft, underscoring both sacrifice and triumph.

By foregrounding these narratives, the show challenges existing market valuations and encourages collectors, galleries, and institutions to reassess the provenance and significance of women‑made glass. It signals a broader industry shift toward inclusive storytelling, which could expand audiences and open new commercial opportunities.

Original Description

Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio opens to the public at the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY) on May 16, 2026 and will stay on view until January 10, 2027. Tough Stuff is the first survey exhibition of work by women artists working in glass during the breakthrough decades of the American Studio Glass Movement, the 1960s through the late 1970s. This pivotal exhibition champions the lives and critical early work of women artists.

Exhibition info here: https://whatson.cmog.org/exhibitions-galleries/tough-stuff-women-american-glass-studio

Tickets can be purchased here: https://tickets.cmog.org/

Meet the exhibiting artists and raise a glass with them at the Members exhibition opening celebration on Friday, May 15, 2026. Audrey Handler, Kathleen Mulcahy, and Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend speak on a panel moderated by exhibition curator Tami Landis ("Untold Histories of the Studio Glass Movement") before Members head up to the galleries to experience never-before-seen works of art and celebrate with the makers of the works on view. Become a Member today to support working artists, groundbreaking exhibitions, and more: https://give.cmog.org/membership

Want to hear more from the artists? CMoG's Rakow Research Library offers a robust Oral History initiative, making the first-person accounts of many artists from this period available to the public. The living archive will feature oral histories, interviews, video, photography, archival ephemera, and more, holding a record of these artists’ voices transmitting their own histories to future generations of glassmakers and glass enthusiasts. Oral histories become available starting summer of 2026. Learn more: https://info.cmog.org/library

The Museum is deeply grateful to philanthropist and Ennion member Mary Spurrier for her partnership in amplifying the untold stories of women artists through her transformational support of Tough Stuff and its related programming.