Pittsburgh Glass Center

{{Short description|Glass gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox museum

| name = Pittsburgh Glass Center

| image = Pittsburgh Glass Center logo.png

| imagesize = 200

| caption = Pittsburgh Glass Center logo

| map_type = Pittsburgh

| coordinates = {{coord|40.464187|-79.932919|display=inline}}

| established = 2001

| location = 5472 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206

| type =

| collection =

| visitors =

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| website = {{URL|http://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org}}

}}

The Pittsburgh Glass Center is a gallery, glass studio, and public-access school dedicated to teaching, creating and promoting studio glass art.{{cite web | title =About Us | work =pittsburghglasscenter.org | publisher =Pittsburgh Glass Center | url =http://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/about-contact/about-us.aspx | access-date =February 15, 2013 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130210072158/http://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/about-contact/about-us.aspx | archive-date =February 10, 2013 }}{{cite news | last =Abels | first =Caroline | title =New Glass Center to Restore Art Form's Shine | newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date =Oct 12, 2000 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d4VIAAAAIBAJ&pg=7035,749575 | access-date = February 15, 2013}} It is located on Penn Avenue in the Friendship neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It has features works by Paul Joseph Stankard and classes taught by Dante Marioni, Davide Salvadore, and Cesare Toffolo.{{cite news | last =Shaw | first =Kurt | title = Pittsburgh Glass Center celebrates a decade of art and artists | newspaper =Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | date =June 19, 2011 | url =http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_742715.html | access-date = February 15, 2013}}

The origins of the Pittsburgh Glass Center date to 1991, when David Stephens, then visual-arts officer of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, approached glass artists Ron Desmett and Kathleen Mulcahy, then a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, about the idea of a center for studio glass. It was originally to have been the Elizabeth Glass Center in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania.{{cite news | last =Ravasio | first =Mary | title =Glass Center Project to be Relocated | newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date =September 1, 1999 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AIsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5110,498109 | access-date = February 15, 2013 }} However, by 1999, the plans had changed and the center was re-oriented to Pittsburgh. It was officially opened in 2001.

The current facility in Friendship is LEED-certified. Its development has aided the growth of Garfield, especially with the adjacent Glass Lofts residential development.{{cite news | last =Pitz | first =Marylynne | title =Filmmakers/center for arts to merge with glass center | newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date =March 29, 2012 | url =http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/filmmakerscenter-for-arts-to-merge-with-glass-center-270721/ | access-date = February 15, 2013}}

In fall 2010, the Pittsburgh Glass Center entered into talks with Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.{{cite news | last =Tascarella | first =Patty | title =Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh Glass Center cancel merger talks | newspaper =Pittsburgh Business Times | date =May 31, 2011 | url =http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2011/05/31/arts-nonprofits-merger-talks-cancelled.html | access-date = February 15, 2013 }} By May 2011, the talks had failed, with the Pittsburgh Glass Center withdrawing from negotiations.

In 2012, the Glass Center purchased residential housing adjacent to its main gallery space to be used as student and artist-in-residence housing.{{cite news | last =Thomas | first =Mary | title =Pittsburgh Glass Center acquires Penn Avenue house for artists, students | newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date =December 5, 2012 | url =http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/art-architecture/pittsburgh-glass-center-acquires-penn-avenue-house-for-artists-students-664991/ | access-date = February 15, 2013}}

By 2012, the center had a $1 million budget, with 10 full-time employees.