Craft as education: Glass models from times past
These days it is easy to open up a book or do a quick search of the internet in order to find gorgeous full-color photos of mysterious underwater creatures. But in the late 1800s and early 1900s, people, and schools in particular, did not have that luxury of technology. Cornell University, in seeking a way to help their students of biology better understand deep sea life, had a series of glass educational models made.
The Cornell models were forgotten until 1957, hidden away in out-of-the-way cabinets. Once found, the models were photographed for a book, further blurring the line between art and science.
The popularity of lampwork has made it easy to take complex glassworks for granted. But these models, while related to lampwork, are scientifically accurate as well as beautiful. And that takes just as much skill as the art of glassworking itself. At the end of the day, these models are about all kinds of skilled craft. Maybe that is why they are still so fascinating today.
