Kids Design Glass [Hardcover]

Benjamin Cobb (Author), Susan Linn (Author)

Book Description

Illustrates a delightful collection of glass art designed by children and created by visiting artists--among them Deborah Czeresko, Preston Singletary, and Lino Tagliapietra--and describes the innovative museum program that each month brings together a child designer to watch as glass artists bring their drawing to life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kids Design Glass is art that celebrates imagination. Imagination is thinking--without rules or boundaries. That is why kids are so good at it." From the Foreword by Dale Chihuly "We loved the drawing, but we almost didn't choose it because we weren't sure how we could make it. But then we thought, no, we can't let the kids stump us." Gabe Feenan, Museum of Glass Hot Shop Teach member, on Shark Attack, 2007 "Going over the sketches and drawings by the children was a fresh and surprising experience for me. It was so different and exciting at the same time. A wonderful idea to include the kids' designs from their natural perspectives, and we and the public will all benefit from seeing them in an exhibition." Lino Tagliapietra, Artist

About the Author

Benjamin Cobb is the Hot Shop manager and a lead gaffer and designer for the Museum of Glass. Susan Linn is a psychologist at Harvard's Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (November 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295989378
• ISBN-13: 978-0295989372
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 12.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,367,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing, November 17, 2011

By 

Alan Gold (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kids Design Glass (Hardcover)

This is a great 'coffee table' book. The photography is beautiful and the subject matter is engaging. My 9 year old requested this book after seeing a copy at the Chihuly exhibit in Boston this summer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Piece of Art in It's Own Right, December 19, 2009

By 

Michael Fischer (Seattle, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Kids Design Glass (Hardcover)

The book is a piece of art by itself, while it still does a great job of promoting the fine art and artist that designed and crafted the kids glass art. The book includes a dvd of the making of one of the pieces and a cute comic book. The pictures are well done and contrast nicely to the actual kid drawings that inspired.

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical whimsy, July 3, 2011

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Kids Design Glass (Hardcover)

The Tacoma Museum of Glass (museumofglass dot org) has several interesting programs, which sometimes overlap. In one monthly program, they select one from drawings that children have drawn, and execute that in glass. The child and fmily are invited to see the master artisans render their art in this most marvelous of media. At the end of the day, two glass sculptures have been produced, bringing the child's art to life. The child receives one to take home, the museum keeps a replica for display. This book documents that collection of wonderful works in glass.

Whimsy comes easily to small children, the kind who draw a coyote in socks or a two-tailed snake that can smack the love out of a person. Magic comes from the glass itself - if you've ever seen glassblowers at work, you might have felt the god-like sense of creators dipping into molten lava and creating form through strength of arm. The challenge comes because chbildren have no idea of the material properties of glass, no idea of what works well or not at all in this unique medium. The artisans, either the museum's own staff or one of their visiting artists, must figure out how to recreate in molten minerals what the child imagined in crayon or marker, and they say it's often quite demanding.

This beautiful book does as much as the printed page can do in rendering the mass and 3D nature of sculpture. Although it does as well as one could hope, it scarcely captures the joy and mastery obvious in the works themselves. I had the privelege of seeing this display at the museum itself, so this acts as a lovely reminder of what I saw there. But, if your choice is seeing the work only in print versus not seeing it at all, go for the book. It's an affectionate tribute by artists at the peak of their powers to the next generation's nascent creativity.

-- wiredweird