As the year draws to a close, we want to pause and say thank you to our extraordinary community — our artists, students, instructors, collectors, collaborators, and friends. Your curiosity, generosity, and creative energy continue to make Washington Glass School a place of discovery, connection, and shared brightness.
This year was filled with melty moments, quiet breakthroughs, bold experiments, and the simple joy of working side by side in the studio. We’re deeply grateful for all of it.
Looking ahead, 2026 marks a major milestone: 25 years of Washington Glass School. What began as a small but determined idea has grown into a vibrant center for glass, craft, and community — and we’re just getting started. Next year will bring special exhibitions, events, and projects that honor our past while looking forward to what’s still possible.
Until then, we wish you a season filled with warmth, inspiration and lots of glass — and a new year full of creative promise.
Today we hosted a glass-making workshop for a great group of friends from the University of Maryland’s STAMP community — new artists diving in, laughing, experimenting, and making some seriously cool fused-glass pocket vases.
Instructors April Shelford and Patricia de Poel Wilberg guided everyone through the technical steps, with Jennie Lindstrom (artist and beekeeper extraordinaire) keeping the creative energy buzzing!
Workshops like this are some of my favorite moments at Washington Glass School — friends learning something new together, trying tools for the first time, and after firing, getting art they made with their own hands.
If you want to plan your own fun studio event, check out our website — we’d love to have you in the mix.
WGS artist Michael Janis’ new works are featured int Glass 53. Image by Pete Duvall.
Glass53 is the largest and oldest annual glass art experience in the world. Now in its 53rd year, Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, Michigan, presents an extraordinary gathering of the work of over 100 artists from over 30 countries. Each artist is a visionary whose mastery of glass transcends mere materiality to embody light, texture, and form in ways that captivate the soul. Habatat seeks to honor not only the works themselves but also the journeys of those who create them. This year’s exhibition is not just a showcase; it’s a living narrative of glass as an ever-evolving art form. From the grand halls of the world’s most prestigious museums to the cultural zeitgeist, glass has emerged from the shadows of traditional craftsmanship into the forefront of contemporary discourse. The featured artists are pioneers and storytellers, each bringing a unique perspective to the medium through bold abstraction, intricate realism, or conceptual deconstruction.
Glass53 Booklet (learn all about Glass53): Click HERE
Glass 53 Invited Artists: Shelley M. Allen, Anthony Amoako-attah, Herb Babcock, Michael Behrens, Alex Bernstein, Martin Blank, Jen Blazina, Christina Bothwell, Geoffrey Bowton, Jannah Bowlus, Latchezar Boyadjiev, Peter Bremers, Karen Browning, Nancy Callan, Eunsuh Choi, Deanna Clayton, Amber Cowan, Simone Crestani, Christopher Day, Cheryl Derricotte, Minhi England, Hannah Gibson, Susan Taylor Glasgow, Wilfried Grootens, Baldwin & Guggisberg, Kim Harty, David Huchthausen, Krista Israel, Tim Jaeger, Michael Janis, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, Richard Jolley, Brent Kee Young, Claire Kelly, Kelly O’Dell, Steve Klein, Vladimira Klumpar, Eriko Kobayashi, Laura Kramer, Jiyong Lee, Steve Linn, Littleton & Vogel, László Lukácsi, Boldizsár Lukácsi, Lucy Lyon, Dylan Martinez, Robert Mickelsen, John Miller, Lukas Mjartan, James Mongrain, Karin Mørch, Josepha Gasch-Muche, Kathleen Mulcahy, Barbara Nanning, David Patchen, Maytas Pavlik, Sibylle Peretti, Pohlman & Knowles, Stephen Rolfe Powell, Colin Reid, Kait Rhoads, Bruno Romunelli, Marlene Rose, Martin Rosol, Richard Royal, Toland Sand, Thomas Scoon, John Sharvin, Judith Schaechter, Jeremy Sinkus, Paul Stankard, Ethan Stern, April Surgent, Lino Tagliapietra, Takizawa Kazuki, Michael Taylor, Bensen & Theofanous, Stephanie Trenchard, Carmen Vetter, Elliot Walker, & Trina Urrata Weintraub.
53nd Annual International Glass Invitational Award Exhibition GLASS53
May 3, 2025 – Sep 19, 2025
Habatat Galleries 4400 Fernlee Ave Royal Oak, MI 48073
To end 2024 on a positive note – We are looking forward to 2025: DC’s new Cedar Hill hospital commissioned Washington Glass Studio to make a ‘DC themed’ glass mural (8 foot x 5 foot high). All our studio artists were invited to make inset panels in their glass style. Just started process fitting out glass panels into the steel framework- here’s a sneak peek! The artwork will be installed early in 2025!! Happy New Year!
Artists involved include: Nancy Kronstadt, Erwin Timmers, Tim Tate, Arden Colley, John Henderson, Patricia de Poel Wilberg, Graciela Granek, April Shelford, Jaelin Jones, Jun Lee, Trish Kent, Chip Montague and Michael Janis.
Winter Open Studios Set for Dec 14th! Mark Your Calendars!
Join us in the DC region’s largest one-day visual arts event! On Saturday, Dec. 14th, from Noon til 5PM, Washington Glass School and its Resident Artists, Teachers and Students will participate in the Winter Open Studios! See what we’ve been up to! Come visit hundreds of working artist studios in the Gateway Arts District, along Route 1 from the DC line/ Mount Rainier up to Hyattsville, MD.
Washington Glass School 3700 Otis Street, MD Rainier, MD
Great review of Artomatic culture event in the Washington Post. Art critic Mark Jenkins enjoys the all-sorts arts experience and singles out the glass art for comment, including using WGS artist Michael Janis’ artwork titled “Waiting for the Moments that Never Come” as the illustrative work for the show. Writes Mark:
“…Among the various business and governmental sponsors of this year’s Artomatic is a small but internationally renowned arts group, the Washington Glass School. The Mount Rainier, Md., studio has taken a large chunk of the building’s fifth floor to showcase the elegant creations of co-founders Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers and several other glass virtuosos. Tate, who credits Artomatic with playing a significant role in his career, is showing a sculpture that riffs on Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.” The provocatively androgynous update positions eight glass figures — male, female and combined — in a circle surrounded by mirrors and lights that simulate a sense of endless replication…”
In the galleries: Artomatic: Unpretentious, approachable, convivial – Review by Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, April 5, 2024
By contrast – have a read about how the Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik thought of the 2004 Artomatic exhibit:
…”The result is the second-worst display of art I’ve ever seen. The only one to beat it out, by the thinnest of split hairs, was the 2002 Artomatic, which was worse only by virtue of being even bigger and in an even more atrocious space, down by the waterfront in a vacant modern office building. I won’t dwell on the art. And I certainly won’t name names…There may just be a few decent things hidden in the mix — with so many thousands of objects on display, the law of averages says there must be. But three hours’ worth of looking didn’t spot too many. Some of the glasswork looked all right. (Glass is such a gorgeous medium it’s hard to screw it up, and you need some basic training even to begin to work in it.)
Artomatic 2004: Hanging Is Too Good for It by Blake Gopnik
Step into a world where glass transcends its ordinary form and becomes a canvas of boundless creativity. The Washington Glass Scene on display in Artomatic’s Level 5 invites you to celebrate the kaleidoscopic fusion of artistry and craftsmanship on April 16th, 2024 from 5-7PM. Prepare to be captivated as the magic of glass takes center stage in a creative showcase unlike any other. Join us as we celebrate the transformative power of this versatile medium, where every piece tells a unique story and invites you to explore the depths of imagination. Meet the artists that are making the Washington Glass Scene a distinctive voice and push the boundaries, redefining the possibilities of glass. Event is Free and open to the Public!
Diverse and beautifully mesmerizing, coral provides shelter and creates an environment to help marine life thrive. Inspired by the labyrinth-like patterns of coral found in our oceans, we invite you to make a fascinating interlocking glass design! Students are provided with a variety of glass colors to choose from, as well as tools to cut and shape the pieces. As one carefully arranges the glass fragments, they can experiment with different patterns and arrangements to create a stunning coral-like design. Beginner level experience.
All of us at the Washington Glass School & Studio Wish You and Family a Joyous Holiday Season! And a Happy Healthy New Year!
(L-R) Patricia De Poel Wilberg, Erwin Timmers, Christina Helowicz, Nancy Kronstadt, Kate Barfield, Tim Tate, April Shelford, Michael Janis, Trish Kent and John Henderson. Not pictured: Graciela Granek, Sean Robinson, Diane Cabe, Gabrielle Morris, Kyle Crosby, and Daphne Matyas.
McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) – on of the DMV leading contemporary visual arts organizations will present an invitational exhibition focused on Artist/Educators.
Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists is an invitational exhibition highlighting works by artists who give significant time to teaching, mentoring, and community-building, while continuing to sustain and develop strong and innovative personal bodies of work. Continuum includes works from Artist/Educators from most of the area colleges and universities, including George Mason, George Washington, Georgetown, Northern Virginia Community College, University of Maryland, and Maryland Institute College of Art. Also represented are some teaching institutes such as the Washington Glass School.
All of the participants are as dedicated to their on-going artistic practice as they are to their students, and vice versa.
Continuum featured artists include: David Carlson, Patrick Craig, Robert Devers, Kate Fitzpatrick, Helen Frederick, Janis Goodman, Reni Gower, Michael Janis, Maria Karametou, Steve Prince, John Ruppert, Foon Sham, Judy Southerland, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Stephanie Williams, Sue Wrbican, Peter Winant.
Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists
September 16 – November 10, 2022
Opening Exhibition Reception September 22, 2022 from 7-9pm
