28th Annual Glass Art Society Conference

Japan Conference Reaches Its Goals and Beyond
SETO, Japan, May 28 - 31, 1998

In planning the Seto Conference, our goal was to give members from around the world the opportunity to see and experience the exciting developments taking place in the glass arts today in Japan. Happily, over 1,600 participants from 25 different countries arrived to take advantage of this opportunity. Speakers and demonstrating artists as well as exhibitions and pre-and post-conference tours and workshops were organized to showcase the variety of styles and school of thought in glass and other arts throughout Japan. To round out the program, the Board invited internationally recognized scholars and artists to report on new trends in glass from their parts of the world.

Because GAS in a nonprofit organization, these individuals came to impart their skills and knowledge largely at their own expense, and we thank them for sharing their time, effort and expertise.

The Seto conference was everything we had hoped for. In the new and complicated century we are approaching, the arts will no doubt continue to help us reach across barriers, providing images and ideas that deepen our understanding of each others’ lives.

-By Bonnie Biggs, G.A.S Board President 1996-1998. Excerpted from The President’s Letter in the 1998 Glass Art Society Journal.