Between 2005 and 2007, Saman Kalantari developed a new way of making pâte de verre called Flexible Glass Sheet (FGS). These paper-thin sheets can be easily cut, bent, folded, and shaped into complicated forms. Kalantari will use the award money to further develop this technique and create a larger, semi-industrial scale product that can be made available to other glass artists. “For many of my students, [some of whom] were already established or emerging artists, this product resolved their problems and gave them solutions they were looking for, and it opened new horizons to them,” he says. "It will [also] be a good material and method for those instructors who teach to children or people with some level of disability”
 
Michal Czeisler’s project, titled Glass Paper, explores the technical and structural aspects of creating kirigami and pop-up art in glass. Some of the main goals of her research are: testing ways to make reusable metal molds with laser cutting technology, creating large-scale artworks that are strong and robust in structure but light and elegant in design, and finding the right connectors for the glass pieces to enable the objects to pop-up out of a glass sheet. “This project aims to prove that atypical yet simple techniques can accomplish excellent results,” says Czeisler. “I have often found that when working with glass, an artist can become so occupied with the techniques required that there is little time left to work on ideas.”
 
Jin Won Han will create a series of educational videos on how to utilize three-dimensional computer rendering for glassmaking. Each video will begin with a brief tutorial for drawing glass objects with Cinema 4D, a well-known 3D rendering software program used for industrial design and film making. In her pilot video, Why 3D rendering?, Jin Won Han explains the benefits of using 3D rendering and provides examples of work designed using the software. Future video topics include: How to Draw Blown Forms, Deforming (Bend, Twist, Tape), Textures, and How to Make Glass Explode (Simple Animation), among others. Once the project is completed, her hope is to make these videos available to GAS members on the website.

A collaborative team of glass and three-dimensional modeling experts from the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio and the National Institute of Aerospace at Langley, with intellectual support from Fred Metz, president and founder of Spiral Arts, have partnered to design a 3D glass printing machine that builds and expands upon existing technology. As stated in their proposal, “This model differs from current options by using thin rods as feed stock (rather than molten feed or a powdered glass solution), and allows greater flexibility with the objects produced.... [which] can be customized to match a specific glass formula, enabling both artists and scientists the ability to alter and manipulate the part after the printing process.”
 
The Glass Art Society would like to express its sincere appreciation to Ted and Melissa Lagreid, as well as Wayne Strattman, for their continued support of the TAG Grant program. GAS also thanks the TAG Grant committee, which includes Lagreid and Strattman, and artists Rik Allen and Peter Houk. If you would like to donate to this fund, please visit http://www.glassart.org/donate_to_GAS.html.

About the Glass Art Society
The Glass Art Society is an international non-profit organization founded in 1971 whose purpose is to encourage excellence, to advance education, to promote the appreciation and development of the glass arts, and to support the worldwide community of artists who work with glass. We hold an annual conference, publish the Glass Art Society Journal and provide online versions of GASnews and the Glass Art Society Online Member Directory featuring member profiles with image gallery, bio and more.
GAS strives to stimulate communication among artists, educators, students, collectors, gallery and museum personnel, art critics, manufacturers, and all others interested in and involved with the production, technology and aesthetics of glass. We are dedicated to creating greater public awareness and appreciation of the glass arts.

Glass Art Society
6512 23rd AVE NW, STE 329,
SEATTLE, WA 98177
+1 (206)382.1305 
INFO@GLASSART.ORG
http://www.glassart.org