Hidden Tulane Part IV- The Pace-Wilson Glass Studio

It's time for another addition of Hidden Tulane, the section of my blog will take you to a part of campus that you wont see on a traditional campus tour of Tulane. So far, we've traveled to Broadway Street to see Tulane Hillel, taken in the beauty of the Cassatt Courtyard, and played some bocce ball in the Community Garden. Today's post will take you to one of the coolest (well, not literally) spots on campus: The Pace-Wilson Glass Studio.

Tulane is highly regarded for its strong program in studio art. The Newcomb Art Department offers a myriad of majors and programs, ranging from photography to printmaking. Students in studio art can attain a BA, BFA, or minor in art. At the graduate level, we offer a number of very strong MFA programs. (Interested in our undergraduate art program? Contact Andrew Farrier, our admission counselor for the arts)

One of the most popular mediums that our studio artists get to work with here on campus is glass. We have a very strong program for glass here at Tulane, having gotten our start back in the 1960s. Professor Gene Koss has been the head of the department for nearly 40 years, and Tulane is now home to the largest glass blowing studio on any college campus in the country.

Gene Koss doing a demo

I took a trip over there today to check it out. The facility is incredible, offering everything from sandblasting machines to casting irons. Large scale glassworks are designed and created in this 12,000 square foot space, designed to be a casting facility as well as a blowing facility. The studio and its faculty are world-renowned and produce some incredible art. The best part is that it's all available to undergrads. In fact, the very first class I took on the very first day of school at Tulane was my glass blowing class. I loved it, and ended up sticking with art at Tulane, taking courses in the Newcomb Art Department my whole four years at Tulane. The glass blowing class was incredible; harder than my differential equations calculus class, but incredible none the less. 

Check out this great video all about the program here at Tulane. And you can see some of our student works here. Professor Koss' mantra is "if you can imagine it, you can do it." And our students truly do.

Students working in the studio

A close to finished product. 

Hey look! It's me! It's also cool to know that the glass blowing studio is "green." Much of the glass they work with comes from recycled glass, as you see here. 

12,000 sq. ft. of glass studio!

Glass in session. Get it?

The entrance to the Woldenberg Art Center, home of the Newcomb Studio Art Department