The idea of a glass arts major excites Michael Prater, Interim Chairman for the Department of Art. Because Ball State University will add the major in about 2010, Prater can not only see students working with glass in a cutting edge facility, he can just imagine area elementary school students seeing glass artists' work.
"I mean, could you imagine a group of second graders with their faces plastered up against the wall?" Prater said.
While sitting in his office chair, he began to mimic the children who will watch the glass blowing through a viewing window. He first raised his hands against an imaginary window with his eyes wide open.
"And this guy bringing a ball of dripping fire out of this 3,000-degree furnace..." he said as he pretended to wield an imaginary pipe with molten glass at the end. He pulled his arms back as he took the pipe from the pretend oven and began to spin it.
"It's all sparks and fire, and they're spinning it and the color and everything..."
Prater then flung his arms in the air, imitating the sparks emitting from his imaginary glass goo.
He then resumed the pose of the school children watching the display. "...and all these kids going 'ooooooohhhhh.'
"I'm mean it's just amazing," he said.
The university will be able to add the major to its art curriculum and build a new building for it thanks to a $5 million donation by the Glick Fund, a Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation. The donation is a part of the university's Ball State Bold financial plan, according to the university Web site.
Prater said the department has been ready to add another three-dimensional art major to join sculpture, ceramics and metals.
"So to add glass blowing to that rounds it out perfectly," he said.
The major includes more than just glass blowing, and will focus on other ways of shaping glass such as casting and molding, Prater said.
Robert Kvam, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the Glick Center for Glass, a $2 million building, will be constructed for the major. The administration plans to put it between Ball Memorial Hospital and Christy Woods, where the soccer fields are. The location could change, and the current plans will not cut into Christy Woods, he said.
Construction will take about 17 months to complete and will begin once the specifics for the building are sorted out, Kvam said. If construction begins in late October the building will be finished during the 2010 Spring Semester and classes will begin in the fall, he said.
Prater also said it might seem strange to some for a university to offer a glass major because expensive equipment is required and the traditional workshop model for training artists in glass still happens outside of academics.
But the workshop method can and does exist in academic settings, where a master artist teaches apprentices under their guidance how to work with substances such as glass.
"And it's not something easy to use," he said. "It almost requires an intuitive feel for the media, which only comes from practice and guidance"
Ball State will be one of the few colleges in the area that offers a glass works major, and the Glick's gift will allow the art department to go through with building the facility and hiring a master artist as a faculty member.
Freshman Sarah Brannah Telecommunications major said she thinks a glass major would be interesting for the university to have because it seems to be forgotten.
"I would never have thought of a glass blowing building, but all the power to them," she said.
Kvam said he envisions visiting artists coming to the facility and having a biannual glass work competition, which would meld students with Muncie community members and visitors to the university who are interested in watching the visual glass making process.
"It's a very engaging dance with glass, as we called it," he said.
Schools with a glass blowing majorAlberta College of Art & DesignAlfred University School of Art & Design Anderson University Glass ProgramArts Midland: Galleries & SchoolAugustana CollegeBowling Green State University Brown UniversityBucks County Community CollegeCalifornia College of Art & CraftsCalifornia Polytechnic State Univ. Canberra School of ArtChadron State CollegeCollege for Creative StudiesCornish College for the ArtsHastings CollegePilchuck Glass SchoolPratt Fine Arts Center
The Glick Fund is a donor-advised fund established by Gene and Marilyn Glick meant to improve life quality in central Indiana. The fund gives money to benefit organizations dealing with arts, culture, health care and research.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
