2022
Winter
CTF started off the year right by having the 2nd Better Together on January 15 in New Orleans at YAYA!
The day was full of live glassblowing, a marketplace of local vendors, DJ’s with a special guest appearance by DJ JUBILEE!
Watch the celebration! Video created by YAYA Senior Guild Artist Jeremiah Brown
Crafting the Future, ORIGINS, The Color Network, and Pittsburgh Glass Center collaborate on an exhibition. Full Spectrum: Visionaries Elevating Art, Craft, and Design showcases visionary makers of color from around the country who are producing extraordinary craft objects, while illustrating the vast number of pathways to a successful and meaningful career.
SaraBeth Post officially joins CTF as the communications coordinator (after years of volunteering!)
CTF Resident Artist Kayla Salisbury
Jamal Hasef
The Los Angeles CTF studio hosts resident artists Kayla Salisbury and Jamal Hasef.
In February, Corey Pemberton and SaraBeth Post traveled to Louisville KY to team up with Professor Ché Rhodes, the head of the glass Department at University of Louisville, to offer a glassblowing workshop with CTF youth partner Steam Exchange.
Spring
Our youth arts partner, New Urban Arts, is a awarded a CTF Special Project Grant to provide stipends for their Resident Artist Mentor program.
During the week of May 1 - May 7 CTF promoted a fundraiser across Instagram called #CTFDIY. Artists from across the country hosted sweepstakes on their personal IG pages to raise over $22,000!!!
CTF Director, Communications Coordinator, and Events Manager all participated in discussion regarding the future of POC representation in the field of glassblowing during a Better Together event hosted by Pilchuck Glass School
Cedric Mitchell, Corey Pemberton, Nate Watson, Therman Statom, Arthur Wilson, Jason Macdonald, SaraBeth Post, and Terri Sigler worked across studios on campus to dive into their individual projects while also meeting together to discuss the importance and the future of representation in glass art.
Along side the residency, HillTop Artists were invited to have several middle school youth work with the residents for a couple days in the studio.
James Vella of YAYA, Trenton Quiocho of Hilltop Artists, Deaunata of Project Fire, and Corey Pemberton of CTF
Our partners at Hilltop, Project Fire, and YAYA joined us in Tacoma, Washington to present at the Glass Art Society Conference. CTF Director Corey Pemberton moderated an amazing panel for GAS Conference attendees to hear these young artists share their stories.
Better Together collaborated at the Museum of Glass to present the closing demonstration for the GAS conference. All POC were invited down to the hot shop floor to participate in a a glass extravaganza! Local Ballerinas, DJs, Poets, and West African Dancers were invited to perform as the glassblowing demonstration was in full swing.
Over 6 months, two interns from Glass Roots were supported at Urban Glass to learn behind the scenes of running a glass studio. This was a paid internship which included transportation.
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) invited the glassblowers of Better Together to create digital content to support their permanent collection of goblets. Each glassblower chose a goblet from the collection as inspiration for a new goblet. The goblets were on display and one goblet was acquired for the permanent collection, Ode to Dick made by Corey Pemberton.
Summer
33 scholarship recipients traveled throughout the Summer to complete immersive workshops at our Art Institution Partners across the country including Penland School of Crafts (Bakersville, NC), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY), Haystack Mountain School of Craft (Deer Isle, ME), Pittsburgh Glass Center (Pittsburgh, PA) , Pilchuck Glass School (Seattle, WA), and Touchstone Center for Craft (Farmington, PA).
Teen Takeover at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, TN.
Over the course of one week we hosted 30 BIPOC artists, students, teachers and chaperones. They explored woodworking, ceramics, glassblowing, and jewelry making. We had a blast and hope to continue the Teen Takeover as an annual opportunity for younger artists to be exposed to immersive experiences in craft.
A collaboration between Cristina Cordova, Penland School of Craft, and CTF brought 2 artists, Lulu Pena and Manu Mendoza, from Puerto Rico to the mountains of Western North Carolina to participate in a two-week internship at Córdova Studios followed by a two-week hands-on ceramic workshop at Penland School of Craft.
Clay to Table crew (@claytotable) held their 2022 Collectors’ Sweepstakes fundraiser for CTF! The sweepstakes featured 3 Pottery Collector Starter Packs including donated works from the 16 Clay to Table artists. This CTF fundraising crew never ceases to amaze us and managed to bring in a whopping $5,740!!! We hope all of our followers see Clay to Table as inspiration and know that any effort big or small to advance the mission of diversifying the arts is appreciated.
Jaden and Sol go to Idyllwild
Fall
Maxwell/Harahan Foundation provides CTF with a $10,000 grant!
CTF is granted $15,000 from the Opportunity Fund!
This grant will support CTF in expanding its residency and scholarship programs in Pittsburgh to impact BIPOC makers through partnerships with the Pittsburgh Glass Center, Touchstone Center for Crafts, and Bridgeway Capital’s Creative Business Accelerator.
