The Glass Museum

Nana & Papa Evans came into town yesterday for Grandparent's Day at Alex's school on Friday. While Alex was at school today, we took them and Aaron to the new Glass Museum that opened last year. This is a part of the Toledo Art Museum, located directly across the street. Since the Libbey Glass Company is located in Toledo, this has been known as the Glass City. Through the Libbey family and other generous donors, the museum had amassed a large collection of ancient and modern glass works. Of course they have glasses and bowls, but the collection includes tables, sculptures, and other art and functional pieces. The oldest are thousands of years old, though most of the pieces were hundreds to dozens of years old. Some of the more modern art pieces were made in recent years.



This punch bowl and table were made by the Libbey Glass Company for a World's Fair near the turn of the century - I think around 1905. Part of the art around us was the museum itself. It was designed by the ..... group from Japan and built by local contractors. The interior and exterior walls are made of glass and all of the corners are rounded - no right angles. Unfortunately, Aaron bumped his face into the glass at least 3 times because he didn't see a wall in front of him. The nearby security guard said that she did that too during her first week there.



Besides the glass collections, they have a glass furnace that is used by artisans and students. Since all of the walls are glass, you can watch them at work while you tour the museum.



The other surprise feature was this long room on one edge of the museum with movable stools, but no glass (other than the walls) so Aaron could wiggle around a little. It was hard being in a museum with lots of pretty displays that he couldn't touch, but overall he did a good job. Today was also my parents 37th wedding anniversary. I turn 36 this year, so the math checks out ;)