Technique is Not Cheap

Spring 2027 - Ongoing

Exhibition Overview

Glass has captivated makers for thousands of years, and as a material, it has communicated ideas from across human history. Its capacity as an art medium is immense and its rich potential to tell stories is achieved through the techniques which help artists manage the glass’ molten fluidity and its ability to manipulate light.

Technique is Not Cheap invites visitors into a long-standing debate: where do you start in an exhibition – the technique used to make a piece, or the idea which it conveys? The question pays tribute to two key thinkers in Studio Glass: Harvey Littleton (famous for telling his students, “technique is cheap,” to encourage them to focus on the ideas behind their work), and Richard Marquis (who organized an exhibition titled Technique is Not So Cheap as a tongue-in-cheek response).

Technique is Not Cheap honors this debate through eight glass techniques featured in the Museum’s collections: casting, enamel, engraving, flameworking, incalmo, murrine, pate de verre, and stained glass. Additionally, it will illustrate glass’ shift from decorative material to a nuanced and complex art medium capable of telling powerful stories.

Whether you are a nerd for technique or a champion for narrative, we invite you to join the conversation, and help us create new connections between the action in the Hot Shop and the powerful stories which can be told with the material of glass.