Founded in 1971 by Fritz Dreisbach, Mark Peiser, and William Bernstein, the Glass Art Society was formed out of a desire to bring together the glass community so people could work together and learn from each other.
Our founders decided to emulate the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), a very influential role model for arts organizations. In the 1960s, most glassblowers were also ceramic artists so they attended NCECA’s annual conferences. At the early NCECA meetings, ceramic and glass artists gathered together to share ideas and tricks, and the GAS founders learned many important aspects of how to successfully operate a craft-media organization.
GAS History Project
The GAS History Project was officially initiated at the 2009 conference in Corning, New York after being mandated by the board in 2005. The goal of the GAS History project is to document the collective knowledge of members of the glass community who have contributed significantly to GAS and to glass arts worldwide.
Key Dates & Milestones
1971 – 1st Glass Art Society Conference at Penland School of Crafts
1971 – Decision was made to form a nonprofit organization
1976 – First year the Journal is produced as the GAS Newsletter
1989 – First International conference in Toronto, Ontario, CAN and First Glass Fashion Show
International Conference Locations: Toronto, Canada (1989); Mexico City, Mexico (1992); Seto, Japan (1998); Amsterdam, Netherlands (2002); Adelaide, Australia (2005); Murano, Italy (2018); Småland, Sweden (2020)
2023 Detroit, Michigan
2022 Tacoma, Washington
2021 Virtual
2020 Virtual
2019 St. Petersburg, Florida
2018 Murano, Italy
2017 Norfolk, Virginia
2016 Corning, New York
2015 San Jose, California
2014 Chicago, Illinois
2012 Toledo, Ohio
2011 Seattle, Washington
2010 Louisville, Kentucky
2009 Corning, New York
2008 Portland, Oregon
2007 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2006 St. Louis, Missouri
2005 Adelaide, Australia
2004 New Orleans, Louisiana
2003 Seattle, Washington
2002 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2001 Corning, New York
2000 Brooklyn, New York
1999 Tampa, Florida
1998 Seto, Japan
1997 Tucson, Arizona
1996 Boston, Massachusetts
1995 Asheville, North Carolina
1994 Oakland, California
1993 Toledo, Ohio
1992 Mexico City, Mexico
1991 Corning, New York
1990 Seattle, Washington
1989 Toronto, Canada
1988 Kent, Ohio
1987 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1986 Los Angeles, California
1985 New Orleans, Louisiana
1984 Corning, New York
1983 Tucson, Arizona
1982 New York, New York
1981 Seattle, Washington
1980 Huntington, West Virginia
1979 Corning, New York
1978 Asilomar, California
1977 Madison, Wisconsin
1976 Corning, New York
1975 Toledo, Ohio
1974 Marietta, Ohio/Williamstown, West Virginia
1973 Marietta, Ohio/Williamstown, West Virginia
1972 Penland, North Carolina
1971 Penland, North Carolina
2022 Judith Schaechter
2020 Richard Meitner
2019 Ginny Ruffner
2018 Livio Seguso, Artistic
2018 Pino Signoretto, Technical (1944-2017)
2017 Joyce J. Scott
2016 James Carpenter
2015 Paul Stankard
2014 Dan Dailey
2012 Joel Philip Myers
2012 Bertil Vallien
2011 Ann Wolff
2010 Dan Klein (1938-2009)
2010 Mark Peiser
2009 Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016)
2008 Henry Halem
2007 Jirí Harcuba (1928-2013)
2006 Ann Robinson
2005 Richard Marquis
2004 Paul Marioni
2003 Dale Chihuly
2002 Fritz Dreisbach
2002 Finn Lynggaard (1930-2011)
2001 Thomas Buecher (1926-2010)
2000 Klaus Moje (1936 – 2016)
1999 Ludwig Schaffrath (1924- 2011)
1998 Kyohei Fujita (1921-2004)
1998 Alice Rooney (1926 – 2019)
1997 Lino Tagliapietra
1996 Jaroslava Brychtová (1924-2020)
1996 Stanislav Libenský (1921-2002)
1995 Erwin Eisch (1927-2022)
1994 Itoko Iwata (1922-2008)
1994 Sybren Valkema (1916-1996)
1993 Dominick Labino (1910-1987)
1993 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)
2022 Natali Rodrigues
2020 Pamela Koss
2019 Robert Mickelsen
2018 Durk Valkema
2017 Wayne Strattman
2016 Jutta-Annette Page
2015 Mary B. White
2014 Shane Fero
2012 John Steinert
2011 Scott Benefield
2010 Tom Philabaum
2009 John Leighton (1948 – 2018)
2008 Laura Donefer
2007 Michael Rogers
2006 Penny Berk
2005 Lani McGregor
2005 Dan Schwoerer
2004 Robert Carlson
2003 Daniel Crichton (1946-2002)
2002 Takako Sano (1939 – 2006)
2001 Mark Peiser
2000 Ginny Ruffner
1999 Josh Simpson
1998 Dan Dailey
1997 Susanne Frantz
1996 David Jacobs (1939-2007)
1995 Jack Schmidt
1994 Audrey Handler
1993 Henry Halem
1993 Joel Philip Myers
1993 Sylvia Vigiletti (1933-2020)
1992 Robert Kehlmann
1992 Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend
1988 Fritz Dreisbach
1988 O.J. Gabbert (1918-1992)
1988 Elizabeth “Libby” Labino (1909 -2008)
1986 Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016)
1984 Andries Copier (1901-1991)
1982 Erwin Eisch (1927-2022)
1982 Frances Higgins (1912-2004)
1982 Michael Higgins (1908-1999)
1980 William H. Blenko, Jr. (1921 – 2016)
1980 Paul V. Gardner (1908 -1994)
1979 Thomas S. Buechner (1926-2010)
1977 William Brown Jr. (1923-1992)
1977 Frank M. Fenton (1915-2005)
1977 Dominick Labino (1910-1987)
1977 Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)
2023 Geoffrey Bowton, Scout Cartagena, and Hoseok Youn
2022 Fumi Amano, Krista Israel, and Madeline Rile Smith
2021 Bri Chesler, Morgan Gilbreath, and Erin Hoffman
2023 Glass Society of Ireland
2022 El Laboratorio De Vidrio
Member
2023 Geoffrey Bowton (1st), Péter Borkovics (2nd), Sandra Bacchi (3rd)
2022 Tali Grinshpan (1st), Tuva Gonsholt (2nd), Péter Borkovics (3rd)
2021 Lois Parker (1st), Sarah E. Vaughn (2nd), Bri Chesler (3rd)
Student
2023 Alyssa Radtke (1st), Noa Hagiladi (2nd), Heather Phillips (3rd)
2022 Eriko Kobayashi (1st), Jack Christeon (2nd), Cassandra Jasulevicz (3rd)
2021 Kensuke Takeoka (1st), Jeanne Letorneau (2nd), Sadhbh Mowlds (3rd)
Green
2023 Hannah Gibson (1st), Cheryl Wilson-Smith (2nd), Morgan Gilbreath (3rd)
2022 Kārlis Bosgustovs (1st), Hannah Gibson (2nd), Angela McHale (3rd)
2021 Abigail Reynolds (1st), Min Haeng Kang (2nd), Christopher Kerr-Ayer (3rd)
Natali Rodrigues 2017-2021
Cassandra Straubing 2015-2017
Roger MacPherson 2014-2015
Jutta-Annette Page 2012-2014
Jeremy Lepisto, 2010-2012
Shane Fero, 2006-2010
Anna Boothe, 2004-2006
Michael Rogers, 2002-2004
Scott Benefield, 2001-2002
Bonnie Biggs, 1996-1998
Robert Carlson, 1994-1996
Josh Simpson, 1992-1994
Stephen Dee Edwards, 1991-1992
Ginny Rufner, 1990-1991
Susanne K. Frantz, 1988-1990
Richard Harned 1987-1988
William Carlson, 1986-1987
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, 1984-1986
Fritz Dreisbach, 1982-1984
Dan Dailey, 1980-1982
Marvin Lipofsky, 1978-1980
Fritz Dreisbach, 1976-1978
Joel Philip Myers, 1975
Henry Halem, 1972-1974
Robert Adamson
Rik Allen
Pat Bako
Paula Bartron
Lucy Bergamini
Eddie Bernard
Alex Bernstein
William Bernstein
Robert Carlson
William Carlson
Robin Cass
Jon Clark
Chris Clarke
Nelly Bly Cogan
Kelly Conway
Daniel Crichton
David Donaldson
Laura Donefer
Paulo DuFour
Richard Eckerd
Stephen Dee Edwards
Shirley Elford
Kate Elliott
Lance Friedman
Beth Ann Gerstein
Suzanne Greening
Rudy Gritsch
Bill Gudenrath
Audrey Handler
Caryl Hansen
Richard Harned
Susan Holland-Reed
Dinah Hulet
Geoffrey Isles
Robert Kehlmann
Ki-Ra Kim
Ruth King
Tracey Kirchmann
Ed Kirshner
Alan Klein
Kim Koga
Thomas Kreager
Barbara Landon
Peter Layton
JiYong Lee
David Levi
Robert Levin
Beth Lipman
Martha Drexler Lynn
Jay Macdonell
Kim Harty
Frederick Heath
Henry Halem, Jr.
Caroline Madden
Andrew Magdanz
Paul Marioni
Steven Maslach
David McFadden
Robert Mickelsen
R. Craig Miller
Kathleen Mulcahy
Nina Paladino
Mark Peiser
Marc Petrovic
Tom Philabaum
Charlotte Potter
Kirstie Rea
Ché Rhodes
Chris Rifkin
Christine Robbins
Linda Ross
Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox
Tommie Rush
Masahiro “Nick” Sasaki
Jack Schmidt
Michael Schunke
Daniel Schwoerer
Maura Shenker
Josh Simpson
Jan Smith
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend
Raquel Stolarski-Assael
Wayne Strattman
Joanne Stuhr
Ruth Summers
Elizabeth Swinburne
Michael Taylor
Ana Thiel
Cappy Thompson
Pamina Traylor
Durk Valkema
Peter VanderLaan
Kate Vogel
William Warmus
Jack Wax
Richard Whiteley
Mary B. White
Acquaetta Williams
David Willis
Tina Yelle
Harumi Yukutake
Caitlin Vitalo, 2017-2018
Ian Messenger Schmidt, 2016-2017
Emily Kuchenbecker, 2015-2016
Amanda Wilcox, 2014-2015
John Rees, 2013-2014
Shannon Piette, 2012-2013
Jessi Moore, 2011-2012
Karen Donnellan, 2010-2011
Tracy Kirchman, 2009-2010
Drew Smith, 2007-2009
Andrew Erdos, 2006-2007
Shara Burrows, 2005-2006
Susan Clark, 2004-2005
Laura Luttrell, 2003-2004
Benjamin Wright, 2002-2003
Megan Metz, 2001-2002
Eric Dahlberg, 2001
Catherine Hibbits, 2000
Chad Holliday, 1999
Nicole Chesney and Brent Sommerhauser, 1998
Johnathon Schmuck, 1997
Maura Shenker, 1996
Boyd Sugiki, 1995
Robert Gardner, 1994
Robin Babb, 2023–present
Michael Hernandez, 2016–2022
Kim Harty, 2013–2016
Geoff Isles, 2009–2013
Kate Dávila, Managing Editor, 2007–2009
Dana Martin, 2006–2007
Shannon Borg, 2005–2006
Tamara Childress, 2003–2005
Peter VanderLaan, 2002–2003
Scott Benefield, 1998–2002
Robert Carlson, 1994–1998
Nelly Bly Cogan, 1993
Marvin Lipofsky, 1976–1989
Amanda Crans, 2023–present
Lauren Bayer, 2022
Brandi P. Clark, 2018–2019
Kristin Solomon, 2017
Kim Harty, 2014–2016
Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox, 2008–2012
Susanne K. Frantz, 2002–2007
Tina Oldknow, 1996–2001
Ron Glowen, 1992–1995
Caryl Hansen, 1989–1991
Christiane Robbins, 1984–1988
Robert Kehlmann, 1981–1983
Marvin Lipofsky, 1976–1980
Jan Williams, 1975