Washington Glass School is proud to share that WGS artist John Henderson is included in the exhibition Woven Legacies: A Centennial Celebration of Black Expression, presented by Stem & Vine in partnership with the Black Art Today Foundation.
On view from February 1 through May 2, 2026, the exhibition honors the 2026 Black History Month theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations,” marking 100 years since the movement to formally recognize Black history in the United States.
John Henderson’s work in the exhibition, The Orishas (Glass/Acrylic, 36 x 12 x 1 inches), is a two-dimensional wall piece that draws on spiritual and cultural traditions rooted in the African diaspora. Through layered materials and luminous surfaces, Henderson explores ancestry, belief systems, and the enduring presence of history carried forward through art.
Woven Legacies examines how art has functioned as a connective thread across generations — preserving memory, expressing resistance, and imagining paths toward liberation. The exhibition features a dynamic group of artists whose work spans disciplines, voices, and perspectives, underscoring the richness and complexity of Black artistic expression.
An artist reception will be held on Sunday, March 1, 2026, from 3–6 PM at Stem & Vine (326 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD).
We congratulate John Henderson on this well-deserved recognition and are honored to see his work included in this important exhibition.
This exhibition is partially funded by the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC).
Michael Janis on glass, public art, and 20 years in the Mt Rainier Gateway Arts District
Michael Janis cutting glass in the Washington Glass School studio in 2025.
Michael Janis is a contemporary glass artist and public art sculptor based in Washington, DC. He is a co-director of the Washington Glass School, an artist-run studio and educational center focused on contemporary glass practices.
In 2026, Washington Glass School marks 25 years since its founding and 20 years since establishing its home in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Janis became co-director of the school in 2005, shortly before the previous studio site in Washington, DC was taken through eminent domain for the development of Nationals Park.
Washington Glass School at 1338 Half Street SE (now Nationals outfield)
Janis is known for narrative glass sculpture, community-engaged public art, and memorial projects addressing identity, memory, and social history. His work appears in permanent museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tacoma Museum of Glass, and the Museum of American Glass, among others. He has completed public art commissions for libraries, medical centers, and civic spaces throughout Washington, DC, the Mid-Atlantic region, and beyond.
Michael Janis riding a horse in front of Washington Glass School, 2012
We spoke with Michael Janis about the history of Washington Glass School, his studio practice, and the role of glass in public art and memorial projects.
Q: Washington Glass School is marking 25 years, with 20 years in Mt Rainier. What does this milestone represent for you?
Michael Janis: The 25-year mark reflects the value of being anchored while continuing to adapt.
Washington Glass School began in 2000 in Washington, DC. I became co-director in 2005, shortly before the original studio site was taken through eminent domain for the construction of Nationals Park. Losing that space forced a reset. We relocated to Mt Rainier and rebuilt the school from the ground up.
The move to Mt Rainier came as we expanded education programs, developed public art work, and built long-term partnerships with artists and communities. Reaching 20 years in the Gateway Arts District shows the importance of stability for an arts organization after a period of displacement and transition.
Interior of Washington Glass School, 2007, teaching at kiln
Q: How did becoming co-director in 2005 shape the direction of the school?
Michael Janis: Becoming co-director in 2005 placed me in a leadership role during a period of disruption.
The loss of the original DC studio meant the school had to redefine the business model, the student base, and the physical layout. We focused on building a tight and adaptable studio space, reworking class offerings, and creating a framework for contemporary glass practices.
Michael Janis teaching an architectural plate glass class at Washington Glass School in 2005.
From the start, we saw the school as both a teaching center and a working studio. That combined role became the basis for how we developed public art projects and community-based programs.
Community workshop for Peppermill Community Center
Q: What is the core mission of Washington Glass School today?
Michael Janis: The core mission is supporting contemporary glass art through education, studio practice, and public art work.
We teach a wide range of glass techniques, including kilnforming, casting, and architectural glass. We also host artist talks, exhibitions, and workshops.
Another major part of the mission involves community engagement. We recently worked with military veterans through an arts therapy program developed by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. We also work with local residents, students, and partner organizations to create glass components for public art projects placed in civic spaces.
Hot Shop Heroes military veterans workshop, 2023
Q: What kind of art do you make in your own practice?
Michael Janis: I make narrative sculptural glass art.
My studio work focuses on figurative glass sculpture and relief panels. The work addresses identity, emotional presence, and social experience.
In public art, I design large-scale glass installations and memorials for civic spaces. Many of these projects include community participation, where local residents help create glass components that become part of the finished artwork.
Low poly wall artwork “Scattering of Light,” 2024
Q: How does glass function in your public art and memorial projects?
Michael Janis: Glass interacts with light, reflection, and transparency.
These qualities support narrative work in both studio and public art settings. In figurative sculpture, distortion and reflection suggest emotional states. In memorial projects, glass holds collective memory through light and color.
Glass also works well in civic architecture. It allows light to pass into buildings while carrying imagery and text.
Detail of Peppermill Community Center sculpture “Telling Our Stories…”
Q: What are some examples of public art projects developed through Washington Glass School?
Michael Janis: Washington Glass School has served as the studio base for a range of public art commissions.
Recent and ongoing projects include:
A DC Ward 5 community-based glass memorial honoring the enslaved people who built the U.S. Capitol
Glass and bronze sculpted artwork for the Library of Congress Adams Building Monumental Doors
A large-scale glass installation for Laurel Library in Maryland
A public art commission for Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center in Washington, DC
A community-engaged glass project in Historic Kempsville, Virginia
Each project involved collaboration with architects, government agencies, and community members.
Michael Janis at Cedar Hill Medical Center artwork (screen grab from East of the River)
Q: Why is community participation central to your public art process?
Michael Janis: Community participation changes the role of public art.
Local residents take part in creating glass tiles, panels, and imagery. These components become part of the finished artwork installed in shared spaces.
This process builds connection between people and the artwork. In memorial projects, participation also helps address historical and social topics through shared making rather than top-down design.
Q: Where can people see your work in public or in museum collections?
Michael Janis: My work appears in permanent collections such as:
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Tacoma Museum of Glass
The Fort Wayne Museum of Art
The Fuller Craft Museum, Massachusetts
The Museum of American Glass, New Jersey
Public installations appear at:
The Library of Congress Adams Building
Laurel Library, Maryland
Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, Washington, DC
Community sites throughout Washington, DC
Q: What themes run through your work as a contemporary glass artist?
Michael Janis: The main themes involve identity, memory, and emotional presence.
In the studio, I focus on figurative glass sculpture addressing psychological states and social relationships.
In public art, I focus on collective memory and historical narrative.
Across both areas, light and reflection create a relationship between the artwork and the viewer.
Q: How do you see the future role of Washington Glass School?
Michael Janis: Washington Glass School will continue to support contemporary glass practices.
We will expand education programs, public art partnerships, and community-based projects. Many of the studio’s resident artists become instructors and contribute new workshop ideas.
The school will also remain a working studio for public art production and artist collaboration.
Q: What advice would you give to artists interested in glass and public art?
Michael Janis: Develop a strong studio practice. Learn how to work with architects, engineers, and fabricators.
Understand public art as a long-term commitment to shared spaces and community needs.
We’ve begun laying out and trimming the community-made glass panels for the Kempsville public art project—an exciting moment where the collective story starts to come into focus. Our attention now turns to the sculpture’s narrative bas-relief panels.
The quick studio flyover shows us evaluating the works side by side, spotting patterns, rhythms, and powerful adjacencies. The panels tell stories of local flora and fauna, historic buildings, heroic and difficult histories, Indigenous and colonial narratives, local teams, and contemporary life.
Choosing which panels make the final sculpture will be the hardest part—every piece matters. Harbor of Stories is becoming a true communal portrait of Kempsville.
WGS artist Patricia de Poel Wilberg with juror Claude Elliott
We are thrilled to congratulate Washington Glass School resident artist Patricia de Poel Wilberg on receiving an Honorable Mention at the 2026 Regional Juried Exhibition at Hill Center Galleries in Washington, DC.
Juried by acclaimed curator Claude L. Elliott, the exhibition brings together outstanding artists from across the DMV region. Patricia’s recognition is a wonderful acknowledgment of her expressive and thought provoking glass work, and we are proud to see her talent celebrated in this important regional show.
Patricia de Poel Wilberg accepts the honors at the Opening Reception, Jan 21st, 2026.
Photos from the opening reception and artist talk show Patricia with fellow WGS artist John Henderson, who is also featured in the exhibition, as well as with juror Claude Elliott. It was a great evening of art, conversation, and community.
WGS artists John Henderson and Patricia de Poel Wilberg at the awards.
The exhibition is on view through May 2, 2026. We encourage everyone to visit Hill Center Galleries to see the work in person.
Congratulations to Patricia and John for representing Washington Glass School with such creativity and excellence.
Washington Glass Studio is honored to announce that we have been awarded the public art commission for Harriet Tubman Elementary School by the DC Department of General Services in partnership with DC Public Schools. The project will be led by Washington Glass Studio artist and co-director Michael Janis, whose work frequently explores history, memory, and the narratives embedded within public space.
Titled Enduring Dreams of Home, the commissioned artwork is an 11-foot-tall freestanding Corten steel sculpture that reflects on the physical and emotional consequences of mid-century urban renewal policies that reshaped Washington, DC. During the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of Black residents were displaced under the promise of progress as established neighborhoods were fractured by freeway construction and institutional expansion. With these losses came the disruption of cultural continuity and the erasure of generations of lived experience.
The sculpture is designed to resemble two fractured townhouses, laser-cut to evoke the rowhomes that once defined the surrounding community. These split forms reference demolition, displacement, and rupture, while also speaking to survival, adaptation, and redefinition. What appears broken still stands. What was disrupted continues to carry memory. The interplay between architectural structure and open void invites reflection on belonging, history, and the stories held within physical spaces.
At the heart of Enduring Dreams of Home is a cut-out portrait of Harriet Tubman, integrated into the fractured architectural form as an enduring symbol of resistance, leadership, and moral clarity. Her presence anchors the work in courage and purpose, re-centering the narrative on hope, legacy, and the guiding force of justice amid periods of profound national change. Positioned within the disrupted structure, Tubman’s image affirms perseverance and the power of individual action within a broader collective history.
Front view of proposed sculpture
Material symbolism plays a central role in the work’s meaning. The weathering steel surface of Corten develops a rust-like patina over time, evoking endurance, aging, and memory, while referencing the material language of historic DC housing stock and urban infrastructure. The townhouse silhouettes function as “ghost houses,” honoring homes and communities lost to urban renewal. The fractured composition acknowledges trauma and structural loss, while also affirming continuity and resilience.
Enduring Dreams of Home responds directly to the DGS call for a three-dimensional freestanding sculpture rooted in historical and cultural narrative. Installed at Harriet Tubman Elementary School, the work is intended to serve as both a memorial and a teaching presence, encouraging conversation across generations about history, displacement, and the enduring human need for home.
Washington Glass Studio is deeply grateful to DGS, DC Public Schools, and the Harriet Tubman Elementary School community for the trust placed in our studio and in Michael Janis as the project artist. We look forward to creating a work that honors the past, engages the present, and inspires future generations.
As we mark MLK Day, we reflect on community and collaboration. These glass tiles were created by Kempsville residents during our summer workshops and are now coming together on our studio tables for color and sizing. Titled “Harbor of Stories”, this public artwork is being shaped by many hands and diverse voices, inspired by the waterways that connect Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Over the summer, residents and stakeholders participated in hands on glass workshops, creating fused glass tiles that will become part of the finished sculpture. These tiles are currently laid out in the Washington Glass School studio, where they are being reviewed for color, scale, and placement. Seeing them together reveals how much energy, care, and individuality the community has brought to the project.
In addition to the fused tiles, the sculpture will include narrative cast glass panels that speak to the history and character of the area. Together, these elements will be set into a large steel structure designed as an abstracted sail form.
Kempsville, VA public art steel work in metal shop gets ready for powder-coat paint finish
The design draws inspiration from the waterways that connect Norfolk and Virginia Beach, reflecting movement, flow, and shared journeys. Titled Harbor of Stories, the sculpture is intended to serve as a welcoming landmark and a visual expression of Kempsville’s identity, shaped by the people who call it home.
Steel framework for WGS’ “Harbor of Stories” in the metal shop
This summer, Washington Glass Studio has been quietly building the foundation for Harbor of Stories, a new public artwork for Kempsville, Virginia. The nearly 18-foot steel structure now standing in the metal shop is the armature that will soon hold hundreds of community-made glass elements.
Erwin Timmers and Michael Janis hosting glass making workshop at Kempsville Community Center, summer 2025.
In partnership with the City of Virginia Beach and Historic Kempsville, we worked directly with Kempsville residents through a series of hands-on workshops held at Virginia MOCA and the Kempsville Community Center. Participants translated personal histories, local landmarks, and shared memories into colorful fused glass tiles — each one a small but vital part of the whole.
Excited Kempsville residents proudly display their glass panel art.
The artwork will also feature larger cast glass bas-relief panels created by Washington Glass Studio artists, depicting Kempsville’s native flora and fauna and the layered histories that define the area.
Right now, the steel stands empty — but not for long. The next phase involves cutting, prepping, and installing the glass, transforming this structure into a welcoming beacon at the corner of Witchduck Road and Princess Anne Road.
We’re proud to share that Washington Glass School resident artists John Henderson and Patricia de Poel Wilberg have been selected for the Hill Center Galleries 2026 Regional Juried Exhibition, on view from January 21 through May 2, 2026.
This highly competitive juried exhibition highlights outstanding artists from across Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and we’re thrilled to see two WGS artists recognized among this regional group. The exhibition was juried by Claude L. Elliott, independent curator, oral historian, and long-time advocate for artists in the DMV—making the selection especially meaningful.
Patricia de Poel Wilberg; ” For Yayoi Kusama”, fused glass
Patricia de Poel Wilberg will be showing a bold fused-glass portrait inspired by Yayoi Kusama, rendered in vivid color with layered dot elements that echo Kusama’s iconic visual language while firmly grounded in Patricia’s own glass practice.
John Henderson working in the studio.
John Henderson’s selected work continues his exploration of material, process, and form, representing the depth of approaches developed within our resident artist community.
The Opening Reception will take place at Hill Center on Wednesday, January 21, from 6:30–8:30pm, offering the public a chance to meet the artists and juror and experience the exhibition firsthand.All works in the exhibition will be available for purchase and can be viewed both in the Hill Center Galleries and online at HillCenterDC.org. Congratulations to John and Patricia—we’re delighted to see your work reaching a wider audience.
Hill Center Galleries 2026 Regional Juried Show – January 21 through May 2, 2026
Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital 921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003
Curated by Shawn Kowfi Holmes, the exhibit title is “Ancestral Marks”: The Language of Creation”, which carries layered meanings that connects heritage, identity, and artistic expression suggesting symbolic traces left by ancestors – such as scars, tattoos, carvings or artistic motifs. These marks can represent cultural memory, lineage, and inherited identity.
Language of Creation implies these marks communicate something fundamental about existence, origins, or artistic expression as if creativity itself is a universal language passed down across generations.
John Henderson, one of our studio artists, is featuring 3 artworks.
John Henderson, “Homage to the Ancestors” kilnformed glass – 12″x36″
Exhibiting at the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center (EBCC) in Baltimore from Jan 3 – March 14, 2026, Gallery hours Thursday & Friday: 1pm to 6pm and Saturday 11am to 3pm.
We recently welcomed Wild Side Media and curators from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities (CAH) to Washington Glass School for a filmed studio visit and conversation as part of CAH’s We Art DC program.
The video features interviews with Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, and Michael Janis, offering a brief look inside our Mount Rainier, Maryland facility as we approach our 25th anniversary. The discussion touches on the school’s history, the diverse community of artists who work here, and our ongoing mission to support artists through education, collaboration, and access to professional opportunities.
This visit is part of a larger initiative by CAH to celebrate Washington, DC’s creative community and highlight the resources available to artists across the city. The video serves as a preview for a longer interview that will be shared in the coming months.
We are proud to be part of a regional arts ecosystem that values mentorship, experimentation, and community engagement — and grateful to CAH and Wild Side Media for helping share the incredible story of Washington Glass School.
