This past school year, the students at Hamilton Elementary Middle School attended a hands-on glassblowing residency with McFadden Art Glass as part of their arts experiences for Arts Every Day’s Schools Program. Hamilton’s art teacher, Kerry McGuire, used their designated AED Schools Program funds to invite McFadden Art Glass who, with their mobile glass blowing studio, gave students a live demonstration and shared all about the history, technique, and process of glassblowing.
Student’s studied glass artists and art and even made their own “glass” art out of colored coffee filters inspired by the work of Dale Chihuly, an American artist known for large-scale glass structures. The workshop not only allowed students to learn about a trade, they got to demonstrate their understanding of science concepts and how the application of heat or changes in temperature affect different materials and states of matter.
Students learned how adjusting the temperature of the glass brought it to a liquid state and lowering the temperature brought it back to a solid state. Throughout McFadden’s demonstration, students had the chance to ask questions and hear all about the process from start to finish!
