Join veteran Geoffrey Bowton for a FREE paper mask painting activity. Paint or sketch your story on the mask. Registration requested.

There are moments in life when expressing something deeply important becomes a challenge. Words may fail us, making it difficult to communicate what truly matters. Through Bowton's own journey, he discovered that art can serve as a bridge to his inner self. It enables him to engage with the unresolved stories within, offering a way to confront narratives that are not easily spoken aloud.

"One of the most profound experiences I have encountered is creating something tangible from personal history. By externalizing thoughts and feelings into a physical form, I am able to witness them in the world around me. This creative act brings clarity and a sense of relief, as though a burden has been lifted. Each time I commit to this process, I take another step toward self-awareness and finding peace through making art," said Bowton.

Join Geoffrey Bowton in sharing your story with others during a free, four-hour window of Paper Mask Painting.Click here to learn more about Art Therapy and Mask Painting.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/healing-soldiers/

Melt your stress away. In this introductory workshop, learn the basics of using a 3,000°F torch and shape molten glass into colorful worry or fidget stones that fit perfectly in your hand or pocket. Guided by a skilled instructor, you’ll apply color and surface texture to make it your own. Perfect for finding your center, a tool for fidgeting, or great for gifting.

 

Ages 14+

 

Due to the nature of hot glass, your items will be available for pickup 5 days after your activity.

PGC 160

Bring some whimsy to your garden. In this introductory 4-hour workshop, you’ll create a charming gnome garden stake for your indoor pots or outdoor garden. Under the guidance of a skilled instructor, you’ll learn essential stained glass techniques including cutting glass, copper foiling, following a pattern, soldering, and assembling as you make a two-dimensional garden stake.

 

It’ll be gnome-tastic fun from start to finish, and you’ll leave with a whimsical piece ready to brighten your greenery.

 

Ages 14+

 

Top off your bottles with style. In this introductory workshop, melt and shape molten glass into custom bottle stoppers with a 3,000°F torch. Guided by a skilled instructor, learn torch basics and add color, texture, and details to create functional art for wine, oils, or decorative display. Impress your guests or give as a unique hand crafted gift.

 

Ages 14+

 

Due to the nature of hot glass, your items will be available for pickup 5 days after your activity.

Grow your creativity and no green thumb required. In this introductory workshop, you’ll gather glass from the 2,100°F furnace and add color. Then guided by a skilled instructor, you will sculpt and blow your own unique glass succulents. No sunlight or soil required.

This workshop is a fun introductory experience into hot glassblowing and hot glass sculpting. Each participant will craft two whimsical succulents, perfect for display, gifting, or brightening any space with a touch of glassy greenery.

Ages 14+

Due to the nature of hot glass, your items will be available for pickup 5 days after your activity.

PGC 161

Bring your garden to life with a vibrant stained glass garden stake. In this introductory workshop, you’ll explore the fundamentals of stained glass. Under the guidance of a skilled instructor, you’ll learn to cut, wrap, and solder glass gems into a one-of-a-kind design that brightens potted plants or outdoor beds. Great for adding personality and sparkle to any space.

 

Ages 14+

 

Meditations on Glass is a new, unique way to experience our current exhibition: A Fine Intoxication: Gathering Glass. 

Using a variety of guided mediation techniques, participants will be invited to open their "eye-mind," a kind of visual awareness that uses the eyes to focus on an object and then allow one's awareness to grow beyond one's sight.  Instead of engaging the breath or a mantra to stabilize the mind, participants will use the exhibition pieces as objects of our meditation.  

The session will start with a basic introduction to vipassana (clear seeing) meditation, followed by the invitation to wander around the gallery until you find the artwork that interests you most. Next you will be invited to rest your gaze on that artwork as you are guided through a series of instructions to become more aware of the color(s), saturation, light, shape, positive and negative space, etc. As the body relaxes and the senses attune, you will be able to drop into a deeper relationship with the glass art object and even enter the mind-state of the artist at the time the artwork was created. Ultimately, this produces a heightened sense of presence and an intimate awareness of the relationship between artwork and the self, far beyond what the eyes can see.

While studies show that the average length of time a person spends looking at an artwork is 15 seconds, we will spend at least 15 minutes "looking" at two or more glass artworks of your choice with space in-between for reflection, sharing, and/or questions. 

Workshop lasts about 90 minutes. 

No experience/knowledge necessary of either meditation or glass art. This is non-religious experience. All are welcome.

About the Instructor

Jeffrey Dorsey has been leading guided weekly meditation sessions and seasonal retreats for groups for more then two years. Jeffrey created Meditations on Glass having been inspired by a Buddhist workshop called, Opening the Eye-Mind and by the book, Look, Look, Look, Look, Look Again, Buddhist Wisdom Reflected in 26 Artists by one of his teachers, Kevin Townley, Jr. Dorsey teaches similar sessions using artwork at the Carnegie Museum of Art's Mindful Museum program. His heart work builds on 30 years of creative artmaking, ritual, mindfulness/ meditative practices, and training in various therapeutic modalities, leadership models, and anti-trauma facilitation. His practices blend the teachings of the wisdom traditions, mysticism, and modern-day scientific approaches to mind body awareness. Dorsey's aim is to teach people skills to regulate their own nervous systems through creative experiences that reconnect us to our senses, our bodies, other humans and the more then human world. You can view his current art/healing project at anotherlight.art. 

Dorsey is also an arts administrator who has currently the Executive Director of Union Project, a ceramic arts center in Highland Park. Fun fact: From 1999-2009, he was manager of the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative (a collaboration of The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation and Friendship Development Associates) who created Unblurred, First Fridays on Penn and who acquired and sold the building to the Pittsburgh Glass Center at our current location 5472 Penn Avenue. Jeffrey lives in Friendship with his wife, two adult children, and two cats.

 

Do you relish the idea of trying your hand at glass? Do you get geeked for gherkins? Then have a dill-ightful time making glass pickles in this introductory workshop. Guided by a skilled instructor, learn to melt and shape clear and colorful rods of glass over a 3,000°F torch to create your own glass pickle ornament, pendant, or mini sculpture.

 

Ages 14+

 

Due to the nature of hot glass, your items will be available for pickup 5 days after your activity.