Toledo Museum of Art was the location for two glassblowing seminars in 1962, since known as the Toledo Workshops, that ignited a blaze of interest in glass as an artistic medium. Since those earliest days of the Studio Glass movement, color has been a definitive aspect of work in glass.

A companion to the exhibition of the same name at the Toledo Museum of Art (June 1–August 26, 2012), this intriguing exploration of color in glass is generously illustrated with works by more than fifty artists. Color Ignited traces the cultural, historical, and technological influences that shaped artists’ attitudes towards the inherent chromatic qualities of glass and its expressive possibilities, from the “art by accident approach” of studio glass pioneers in the early 1960s to complex, conceptual installations by contemporary artists with international reach.

Peter Morrin