This post includes affiliate links. When you purchase through these links, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. For full details, please see our affiliate disclosure page.
Spend a day or two at the Corning Museum of Glass
“You really like fire. You’re kind of addicted to it.” Cat Burn’s mother said to her, “so you’re either going to jail for it or you could learn to play with it.” And that’s exactly what we were doing as we created a cobalt blue pumpkin in The Studio. Glassblowing (making seasonal pumpkins, snowmen or Easter eggs) or creating beads through flamework are only a few of the things to see and do at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. Located in the Finger Lakes region it is approximately 4 hours from Toronto and 4.5 hours from New York City. Both educational and entertaining, it is the perfect weekend getaway for families, couples or art lovers.
Opened in 1951, this museum complex incorporates numerous galleries, an indoor and outdoor amphitheatre, an outdoor kiln, and lastly, a large studio and teaching facility. Home to the largest collection of glass, it holds over 50,000 objects covering a span of 3,500 years of glass history. The Museum has grown into a collecting, exhibiting, teaching, and research facility located just steps away from the global headquarters of Corning Inc. If you can dream it, it has been made into glass.
🏡 Where to Stay: Top Accommodations
🥾 Explore: Tours & Experiences
🚙 Hit the Road: Car Rental Deals
🛫 Get Away: Find Flight Deals
🎒 Shop: Travel Essentials
This world-class museum has pieces from ancient Egypt to current day. With over 460,000 visitors a year, an average visit lasts 4.5 hours long, with 20-25% of visitors attending the Studio for glass blowing classes to create beautiful items. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you will get through this museum in a few hours. With an admission pass good for two days, plan accordingly and be sure and take advantage to play with a little bit of fire to create a beautiful keepsake then take it home the next day!
There are a variety of galleries to visit from the Crystal City Gallery – to learn about cut glass – to my personal favourite – the Contemporary + Design gallery. Set against crisp white walls, there is no better way to see these glass pieces!
This museum is the perfect intergenerational travel destination. With workshops for children, along with seasonal activities and glass making/breaking demonstrations.
On our recent Family Day Weekend trip, we met a multi-generation family at hour hotel. I asked the mom, why the appeal of Corning? They were there because the museum was centrally located with the grandparents in Buffalo and the parents and grandkids in Boston. A little later on in the day, we watched the children participate in a snowman making workshop while the grandparents watched with joy and the parents captured it all on video. These types of experiences are what makes a museum a wonderful destination for families. If the kids or seniors get hungry, no need to leave the museum as it has on-site eateries with fresh, made-to-order items and grab-and-go snacks.
This was my second return to the museum and this time I was with my 17 and 19 year old children. They were just as invested as those younger children as we toured the museum.
What to see and do in the Corning Museum of Glass–15 Reasons to go
with Glassblower Cat Burns & @DownshiftingPRO
1. Make Your Own Glass piece of art
The most memorable part of our visit was when I got to made a glass pumpkin. I never thought I’d be able to make (well, help make) my very own work of art. We had two options: a pumpkin or a flower. The pumpkin involved blowing glass and not manipulating glass, which I found more interesting. I made a short video below so you can see the creative process. Take into consideration that the item you make must cool overnight. If you are not staying in the area, Studio will ship it anywhere in the US!
2. Don’t want to try, you can always check out the daily demonstrations
At various times during the day, you can watch different demonstration throughout the museum. Visitors have their choice of nearly 20 glass demonstrations. While we visited, we watched one artist create a tiny cat using flamework techniques. A glass breaking demo explains the difference between regular glass and tempered glass. It also clarifies how its function in today’s electronics.
Do you understand how information travels through a thin thread of glass? Sit in on the Fiber Optic demo to learn more. CMoG offers a variety of free narrated demonstrations every day that usually lasts about 15 minutes and range from glassblowing to flameworking, and, of course, glass breaking.
At the TBEX closing party, there was a demonstration of masterful glass blowing as they created a large platter in the Amphitheater Hot Shop. It features 500 seats and 360° views for catching a glimpse into the fascinating process of glassblowing. We could watch the details of the process on 80-inch digital monitors and a state-of-the-art video system. With cameras inside the kilns, you can watch the glass being spun around by some of these talented glassworkers. You’ll get a much closer look than you ever imagined at this centuries-old craft.
3. Corning, New York: The Crystal City
Explore the recently re-opened Crystal City Gallery and learn the history of how Corning became one of the premier centers for glass cutting in the United States. This gallery has many examples of cut crystal and you can watch a short video on how cut glass is made. Watch as a simple glass transforms into intricate stemware. I have a deep love for my Waterford and I never knew how these beautiful pieces had been made.
Fry Glass Company 1905
The Crystal City Gallery exhibits very intricate and masterfully cut, high-quality lead glass tableware we know today as brilliant cut glass. We were impressed by the beautiful Liberty Bell and the 12-gallon punch bowl and forty cups made for Tiffany and Company in 1904. Until recently, it was stored away in an attic. This beautiful bowl must be seen! This adds to the list of things to see and do at the Corning Museum of Glass.
4. More than just glass vases
Whether it is an iconic Tiffany Lamp, stained glass window or a glass chandelier, you will find many unique items made exclusively from glass. It could be a chair, pedestal lamps, paperweights or lighthouse lamps and lenses. With over 50,000 objects covering 3.5 centuries, you will find many interesting things which you would never imagine could be made out of glass.
5. The Science of Glass
This 20-ton, 200-inch disc is one of the world’s largest pieces of cast glass. But what exactly is it? Designed for a telescope to find distant galaxies, this piece of glass is a blank for a giant mirror that was damaged in production and never used. Created for the Hale telescope, visit the Innovation Center to see this two-story high marvel.
Do you know what Gorilla Glass is? It is currently designed into more than 6 billion consumer electronic devices. You wouldn’t be reading this webpage right now if it weren’t for glass technology created in Corning—specifically, fiber optics. Every time you tap your smartphone screen, you’re touching glass invented in Corning. How often do you use your Pyrex measuring cup or casserole dish? Corning again. Learn how Corning has changed the world through glass innovation.
6. Use Technology to learn more
Search out the iPads which are readily available and check out the GlassApp, an award-winning digital companion for the Contemporary + Design Gallery—no downloads required. Using your phone, simply connect to the FREE Wi-Fi and open your phone’s internet and go to glassapp.cmog.org to learn more about the objects and artists in the galleries. There is nothing like a guided tour to appreciate each piece. I always encourage my children to listen to the experts so that they may learn more.
7. See a Chihuly
As you enter the lobby, you will see a spectacular Dale Chihuly sculpture – Fern Green Tower. I’m a big fan of Chihuly and have written a few posts about his exhibitions and his museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was once again a treat to see one of his masterpieces. The original Fern Green Tower was 11 feet and then was reconfigured to 15.5 feet (check out this time lapse video). It is not the only Chihuly piece in the museum. There is a beautiful vase – Cadmium Yellow-Orange Venetian #398 – in the Heineman Gallery. This Gallery focuses on vessels, objects, and sculptures made by international artists from 1975 to 2000, a period of 25 years that changed glass. The purpose of the gallery is to show the different ways in which glass is used in art, craft, and design.
Notable Pieces: Ruby Conical Intersection by Harvey K. Littleton (above, RT), Cabellos de angel (Angel hair) Toots Zynsky and Chess Set by Gianni Toso.
8. Stunning architecture on 11 acres
This museum’s architectural journey began in 1951 with the Harrison + Abramovitz International-styled design. Three large expansion proceeded. In 1976, the Latvian-American architect Gunnar Birkerts explored a biomorphic, or more organic, modernist style in his design for a new addition to the CMoG. In 2001, the Smith-Miller + Hawkinson expansion included two prominent additions, one to the east and one to the west of the existing building. From the concrete beams and skylights to a glass, egg-shaped whisper theater, the Museum uses architecture to hold and highlight a series of very different—but connected—collections. Finally, in 2015, architect Thomas Phifer and Partners, designed the stunning 100,000-square-foot Contemporary Art + Design Wing.
There’s more to CMoG than what could possibly fit into one building. Just a short stroll from our main collections and demonstration spaces, you’ll find a state-of-the-art glassmaking school and additional galleries, as well as the foremost research library on glass, complete with its own exhibitions. And everything’s completely accessible to the public.
9. Kids & Teens 17 and under visit FREE + Admission is good for two days
There is no question, there is a lot to see and do at The Corning Museum of Glass and getting your family involved is all part of the experience. The perfect family-friendly museum both for the activities and the budget. Not only are kids welcome, but they are also welcome to experience the Museum at no cost. You can find special weeks that hold activities just for families (President’s Day weekend, Easter etc.).
Insider Tip: Your admission is good for two days! Plan to make your own works of art. Be sure and try the studio the first day so you can pick up your masterpiece then next!
Opened seven days a week is an added bonus for travelers! Many museums close Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays but NOT AT THE CORNING. They’re open 361 days of the year (362 in a leap year). You can visit any day of the week, 9 am to 5 pm each day.
10. Learn how a paperweight is made
Want to see the world’s largest paperweight collection? CMoG holds one of the world’s largest paperweights: the 107-pound Megaplanet by Josh Simpson which became the 1,000th paperweight in the Museum’s collection. Learn how a millefiori mushroom paperweight is made.
11. Fruits and Necklace made for giants
There are many things to see and do at the Corning Museum of Glass and my 17-year-old was intrigued by this piece. It was realistic, yet, completely out of proportion. I can understand why Still life with Two Plums by Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick is a fan favourite in this collection.
When looking at common objects made into glass be sure and seek out Evening Dress with Shawl by Karen LaMonte and the humongous The White Necklace by Jean-Michel Othoniel.
12. From a chandelier powered by butterfly-shaped solar panels to a shattered blood-red chandelier – let there be light
About 500 ‘butterflies’ power this chandelier as it stores energy from the sun using tiny solar panels. Located in the Contemporary Art + Design wing, you may not realize that this piece is both functional and beautiful.
There are at least two other stunning chandeliers in the collection: one hanging ombre grey and another shattered blood-red. This sculpture consists of an elaborate chandelier whose many parts are blown and tooled of transparent blood-red glass, assembled and hung, then intentionally dropped. A flock of taxidermied crows perched on the fallen carcass and shards dangle from their mouths.
13. See the forest for the Trees – Upcycled life-size trees
When I first approached this piece, I thought it was an exhibit of Corning Glass products from times gone by. Little did I know that to see the beauty of this piece was to step back and see the forest for the trees. Three life-size trees composed entirely of 2,000+ re-purposed drinking glasses. The environmentally-conscious glassmaker, Katherine Gray, culled glasses from many different sources—including a few local shops in Corning—to create her “green” stand of trees.
14. See all of Corning’s downtown including The Rockwell Museum
When you’ve finished your visit or want to take a break. Consider boarding the free shuttle bus to Corning’s historic Gaffer District (including The Rockwell Museum). It travels a continuous 15-minute loop and makes several stops along the way. Board it at any stop to return to the Museum or Visitor Center parking lot. The Rockwell Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, houses an incredible collection of art about the American experience. Pottery, paintings, and textiles are just a few of the things on view. If you want to visit both museums, purchase a combo ticket.
15. Shop ’till you Drop
Housing the largest museum store in America, you can certainly shop your heart out at CMoG! From one-of-a-kind pumpkins to clothing, purses and crystal jewellery, you will be able to pick up the perfect gift. Items are clearly marked which are made locally and which are made overseas.
With so many things to see and do at The Corning Museum of Glass you must visit more than once. I’ve been twice already and hope to get back again. The perfect intergenerational trip, I need to bring both my mother and my sister back to see this museum. I mentioned many pieces in the museum. There is no doubt you will need to allow at least four hours to the museum. Since passes are good for two days, this should not be hard.
I would highly recommend you stay nearby at the Hilton Garden Inn – Downtown. It is just a few minutes walk to the museum and has a fantastic patio. Insider tip: Look for packages which include passes to the museum – best deal!. Corning is a very walkable city and a great destination for a long weekend or a minimum of two days. I hope this comprehensive guide helps you make up your mind to visit Corning and the Corning Museum of Glass.
FAQ – The Corning Museum of Glass:
MUSEUM LOCATION
1 Museum Way, Corning NY 14830
Corning is located halfway between New York City (4 1/2 hours drive) and Niagara Falls (3 hours drive).
MUSEUM HOURS
9 am – 5 pm daily (museum closed currently due to COVID-19)
Closed only four days a year: January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 24, December 25.
Library Hours: 9 am – 5 pm every day
Shops Hours: 9 am – 5:30 pm every day
MUSEUM ADMISSIONS
Admission is valid for 2 consecutive days. All prices in $USD
Members – Free
Adults – $20
Children Age 17 & under – Free
College Student & Seniors – $17
AAA and Military – $17
Local residents – $10
Combination ticket with The Rockwell Museum – $28
Visit Two Museums & Save – Corning Museum of Glass and Rockwell Museum
Disclosure: I was a guest of the Corning Museum of Glass when I attended the TBEX Finger Lakes Conference . I was also as a guest of the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Corning. All opinions are genuine and my own. #sponsored #giftedexperience. What to see and do in the Corning Museum of Glass
🥾 Explore: Tours & Experiences
🏡 Where to Stay: Top Accommodations
🚙 Hit the Road: Car Rental Deals
🛫 Get Away: Find Flight Deals
🎒 Shop: Travel Essentials
I ended up having to drop going to TBEX last year and missing out on the Corning Museum was the one part that had me so bitter about not going. Glass crafting and the history of glass manufacturing is just so darn fascinating. I loved getting to live vicariously and read about your visit, And I ADORE the pumpkin you made.