The talents of students in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s glass program will be on display with the annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, Oct. 21.
The event will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on the lawn in front of the breezeway between Pulliam Hall and the Wham Education Building. The best parking lot for patrons will be at Morris Library.
Since 2006, both undergraduate and graduate students in the glass program at SIU have crafted the pumpkins that sell at this event. About 500 pumpkins will be available this year. The celebration attracts nearly 500 people from throughout the region.
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Prices this year will range between $50 and $100 on average, according to Jiyong Lee, professor and head of the glass program. Credit card purchases are available this year, but organizers are encouraging patrons to pay by cash or check for faster checkout.
Proceeds support students
The pumpkin sale is hosted by Southern Glass Works, the glass art student organization in the School of Art and Design at SIU, directly supports the students and their work, and is a way to enhance students’ educational experiences. Proceeds fund programs including the Visiting Scholar/Artist-in-Residence Program, Visiting Artist Series, field trips and conference trips that enhance the students’ educational experiences. Proceeds from the event have also been the main funding for building glass melting furnaces and other major glassblowing equipment.
Visiting artist
Glass artist Sogon Kim, who recently completed her master’s degree in ceramics and glass at the Royal College of Art in London, is the glass program’s artist-in-residence for the fall semester. Lee said Kim has been creating new works in the SIU glass studio, and she will have a solo exhibition at Vergette Gallery in the Allyn Building on campus, 1100 S. Normal Ave., Nov. 13-18. Kim is the 12th resident artist invited since the glass program began the artist-in-residence series in 2010. The glass program has hosted visiting artists from the United States, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, China, Australia and Korea.
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