MILLVILLE, NJ (June 28, 2022) – It’s a new glass act! Alexander Rosenberg, the Netflix Blown Away star and current Glass Studio Director of WheatonArts, has finished building his new team of glass artists. Visitors can meet and interact with the new team as well as with Creative Glass Fellowship artists during open hours, and with notable guest artists during special event weekends. The Glass Studio’s artist residency programs, educational partnerships, and Make-Your-Own Experiences program are also back in full swing. Meet the new Glass Studio Team below!

Glass Studio Director: Alexander Rosenberg
Alexander Rosenberg is an artist, educator, and writer. He earned a Master of Science in Visual Studies from MIT and a BFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design. Rosenberg is the recipient of the 2020 Proctor Fellowship, the 2012 International Glass Prize, and an Awesome Foundation Grant. He was a founding member of Hyperopia Projects (2010 to 2018), headed the glass program at the University of the Arts (2010 to 2017), and was an artist member of Vox Populi Gallery (2012 to 2015). He was cast on the Netflix Series Blown Away in 2018 and taught at Salem Community College from 2017 to 2021. 

Glass Studio Coordinator: Katey Murphy
Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Katey Murphy is an artist who often uses mirrors in her work to distort and confront reflection. Murphy’s work comments on substandard expectations of beauty and the intimate relationships we create with the people around us. She started working with glass in 2009 and has traveled the east coast working with the medium. She received her BFA from Temple University (2014) and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2018). Her work was selected as the cover of the MFA Thesis Exhibition Catalog. 

Glass Studio Assistant Coordinator: Ian Shishido
Ian Shishido is a native of the island of Oahu, and began working with glass as an artistic medium in 2016. Ian’s fascination with glass started the moment he was exposed to a demonstration of glassblowing. Since then, he has dedicated himself to understanding the transparent material and its many uses. He graduated from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, with a bachelor’s in Fine Arts in the Spring of 2021 and completed an internship at the Chrysler Museum and a fellowship at Pilchuck Glass School.

Make-Your-Own Hot Glass Instructor: Kendall Frank
Kendall Frank’s artistic practice takes inspiration from natural and built environments and is driven by observing, collecting, and cataloging. She moved to Philadelphia from rural Pennsylvania to attend Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Trained in various glassmaking techniques, Frank most often practices kiln-forming and flameworking. Utilizing multiple processes allows her to achieve diverse effects in upcycling and transforming glass trash. Frank evokes optimism and inspired action with works concentrating on the impending climate crisis and other cultural and social issues. 

Glass Studio Assistants include recent graduates of Salem Community College: Tiffany Leps, Jeremy Hayes, Cheyenne Ellison, and Josh Metzger. Additionally, several past work-exchange artists are back as well, including Caz Boyd, Steve Boyd, Lisa Gerald, and Tricia Dufford. 

Rosenberg concludes that “the Glass Studio has been and continues to be an international hub for creative and fearless experimentation in the field of glass. Rebuilding towards capacity, our new team holds firm on the commitment to embrace diversity, inclusion, and equitable practices in a studio environment that is safe and welcoming to all.” 

The Artist Studios, Museum of American Glass, Folklife Center, and Museum Stores at WheatonArts are currently open from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, through December 31, 2022. WheatonArts is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and from January through March for exhibition changes. For more information, call 856-825-6800 or 800-998-4552, or visit wheatonarts.org. 

WheatonArts strives to ensure the accessibility of its exhibitions, events, and programs to all persons with disabilities. Please provide two weeks’ notice for additional needs. Patrons with hearing and speech disabilities may contact WheatonArts through the New Jersey Relay Service (TRS) 800-852-7899 or by dialing 711. 

Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New Jersey Cultural Trust. WheatonArts receives general operating support from the New Jersey Historical Commission, Division of Cultural Affairs in the New Jersey Department of State, and is supported in part by the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism. 

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About WheatonArts: With a history spanning over five decades, WheatonArts has earned regional, national and international recognition for its unique collections and programs. The Museum of American Glass (accredited by the American Alliance of Museums) houses one of the most comprehensive collections of American glass in the country – from the first glass bottles made in America to celebrated works by Dale Chihuly, Paul Stankard, and other contemporary glass artists. Visitors experience the art of glassmaking, ceramics, and flameworking in the Artists Studios. From April through December, the Museum of American Glass and Down Jersey Folklife Center present special exhibitions. WheatonArts also offers traditional and multi-cultural programs, classes, workshops, performances, and weekend festivals. The award-winning Museum Stores offer traditional and contemporary art and craft in all mediums. 

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