2009 Pre-Conference Tours

Please register for these tours by using the registration form at the back of the pre-conference brochure. Online Registration will be available mid-January. All tours leave from the Corning Museum of Glass.

Sylvania Light Bulb Factory Tour

Tuesday, June 9, 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Cost: $30/person
Includes: transportation, English speaking guide
Maximum 30 participants

Visit the Sylvania light bulb factory. Learn about the history of this plant and its current operations as well as go on a walk-through of the factory floor. Visitors will be able to see the furnace, ribbon machines, frost machines and packaging operations.

Exploring Tiffany Windows in Western New York - CANCELED

Sullivan Park Research Center

Wednesday, June 10, at 12:30 and 2:30 pm
Cost: $15/person
Maximum capacity of 80 people per tour. Details will be available on the day of the of tour

Corning celebrated 100 years of Research & Development in 2008. A tour of the Sullivan Park R&D Center will be offered to Glass Art Society participants. The tour will include an overview of Corning’s R&D programs and facilities followed by demonstrations of three technologies for new products.

Finger Lakes Studio Tour - ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT!

Wednesday, June 10, 8 am
Cost: $95/person
Maximum 35 participants

Take a ride and discover glass art studios nestled amidst the vineyards of the Finger Lakes. Our tour will visit 4 working glass studios along the shores of Canandaigua Lake, each with its own unique story and treasures. We will enjoy wine-tasting and lunch at one of the oldest wineries in the Finger Lakes, Widmer Wine Cellars.

Niagara Falls, NY Day trip - CANCELED

THIS TOUR IS BEING CANCELED DUE TO LOW REGISTRATION - if you have registered for this tour you will be contacted about applying your payment to another tour or be refunded. You may also email or call 206-382-1305.

Wednesday, June 10, 7:30 am - 8 pm
Cost: $130/person*
Includes: transportation, English speaking guide, admission to the Maid of the Mist, lunch at Hard Rock Café and guide and driver gratuity.

*Pricing is based on 35 passenger minimum and may increase with a lower passenger count. Minimum 35, maximum 50 participants.

Steuben Glass Plant Tour

Thursday, June 11 & Friday, June 12
8am, 10am, and 12pm
Maximum 10 people per tour
Cost: $15

For more than 100 years, Steuben has been at the forefront of glass design, balancing state-of-the-art technological advancements with centuries-old traditional glassmaking techniques. Founded in 1903 by English glassmaker Frederick Carder, Steuben is an American company named after Steuben County, New York, where our design studio and glassworks facility are still located.

The company was acquired by Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated) in 1918, and in 1933, Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. was appointed Steuben's president. Soon after, he revolutionized the art glass industry with the introduction of clear Steuben crystal - a new optical glass of unparalleled brilliance and purity formulated by Corning Glass Works scientists. This new formula for extraordinarily pure glass, crafted by the most talented and accomplished designers and glassmakers in the world, has made Steuben the preeminent maker of fine glass internationally. Houghton's profound belief (still one of the driving forces at Steuben today) was that the unique partnership of designer and glassmaker is catalyst to the conception of visionary designs that literally push the art of glassmaking to the edge of creative expression. In Houghton's day as now, Steuben has had but one ideal - to make the finest glass the world has ever known, with strict adherence to distinctive edsign and to the "hand methods" of forming, polishing and engraving.

At a time when value is increasingly important, Steuben continues to deliver unsurpassed quality, superior craftsmanship, and unerring attention to design and detail. From graceful, fluid forms sculpted in molten crystal to complex designs cut or engraved on the cooled glass, each perfect piece has earned its characteristic signature in diamond point: Steuben.

Click here to go back to 2009 Corning, NY Conference