“The Corning Museum of Glass works hard to be a partner to artists, designers, and scientists—serving as a laboratory and acting as a catalyst for creativity—to further the understanding and application of glass,” said Karol Wight, president and executive director of The Corning Museum of Glass. “Tom’s work over the last 35 years has been about exploring and experimenting with the material of glass, researching different formulations of glasses and hot-forming techniques and using industrial and architectural glass as a sculptural medium.”
“Corning Incorporated is dedicated to innovation and experimentation with glass, and we have a long history of collaborating with artists,” said Dr. David Morse, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Corning Incorporated. “Tom’s own experimentations with glass compositions make him a particularly interesting artist to work with and we are eager to work with him and see what new discoveries he makes with our material.”
 
Patti has previously acted as a technical consultant on glass design for Corning, Owens Corning, PPG, Solutia, SABIC, and Israel Berger & Associates. He sees his work in materials science as way to inform his artwork. In his Specialty Residency, which will begin in July 2015, Patti will not focus on a specific specialty material for artistic use, but instead will explore the way changes in temperature affect different kinds of glass. He will work extensively at Corning’s research and design facility, Sullivan Park.
 
“I want to explore temperature ranges not used in the traditional glass studio,” said Patti. “I want to learn from the collaborative dialogue that will take place with the innovative staff at Corning. For me, the process is as important as the outcome; my art is a result of the way I conceptualize and the vision I set for myself as I work. I hope to explore temperature ranges in glass in a way that both Corning and I can learn from.”
 
About Tom Patti 
Patti’s work is included in the permanent private and public collections worldwide, including The Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Louvre. He earned his BFA and MFA at Pratt Art Institute in Industrial Design and Architectural Theory. In 2012, he was honored as a Pratt Icon. While at Pratt, he was involved with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a project co-founded by Robert Rauschenberg to develop collaborations between artists and engineers to explore the relationship of art to science and technology. Establishing this investigation as a predominant theme in his work, Patti has continued to innovate architectural and industrial glass processes entirely unique to his artwork over the past four decades.
Specialty Glass Artist Residency Program ?Corning Incorporated, which has developed and patented more than 150 specialty glass formulations, provides the resident artist with access to staff with technical expertise in glass formulation, melting, and forming, as well as access to specialty materials.
The Corning Museum of Glass provides access to its extensive resources, including its glassmaking facilities and collection. The resident artist works closely with the Museum’s glassmakers, research scientist, curators, and other staff to better understand glass and its historical and artistic contexts.
Patti is the second artist to take part in the residency, which is by invitation only. The first selected artist was American sculptor Albert Paley, best known for his large-scale works in metal. In 2014/15, Paley used Corning Code 7056, a borosilicate glass that was engineered to bond tightly to a metal alloy called Kovar, and experimented with small-scale sculptural work incorporating both materials.
 
ABOUT THE CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS
The Corning Museum of Glass is home to the world’s most important collection of glass, including the finest examples of glassmaking spanning 3,500 years. Live glassblowing demonstrations (offered at the Museum, on the road, and at sea on Celebrity Cruises) bring the material to life. Daily Make Your Own Glass experiences at the Museum enable visitors to create work in a state-of-the-art glassmaking studio. The campus in Corning includes a year-round glassmaking school, The Studio, and the Rakow Research Library, the world’s preeminent collection of materials on the art and history of glass. Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State, the Museum is open daily, year-round. Kids and teens, 17 and under, receive free admission. www.cmog.org.
 
The Museum recently opened a 100,000-square-foot Contemporary Art + Design Wing, designed by Thomas Phifer. The new wing includes a new 26,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery building, as well as one of the world’s largest facilities for glassblowing demonstrations and live glass design sessions.
 
THE CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS
One Museum Way
Corning, NY 14830
+1 (800) 732-6845
www.cmog.org