Glass Art Center

A. gallery
B. reception
C. stairway to 2F
D. glass blowing studio
E. office
F. security center
G.H. washroom
I.K. shower room
M. warehouse

Founded in 1987, the Niijima Glass Art Center is located on the beautiful island of Niijima 160 km south of Tokyo. The center is sponsored by the Niijima Town Council, and the island, with its beautiful coast, is well-known as surfers' paradise. The island produces "kogaseki", a silica-based sandstone perfect for making glass. The name Kogaseki Center, as the center was also called, comes from the name of this stone.
Since it opened, the center has been researching into possibilities for using this stone as a new medium for glass-for artistic as well as industrial uses. It has sponsored annual glass workshops named the Niijima International Glass Art Festival, and the festival has become one of the most exciting seasonal events in the Japanese glass scene.

---The interview with Osamu Noda, director and founder of the Glass Art Center, in Glasswork magazine (October, 1993) explains the festival and it's background in detail.

---In the slide lecture at the Glass Art Society Conference (June, 1992)Noda speaks about the center's history and it's philosophy.

1. "studio entrance" QuickTimeVR 184k

2. "studio" QuickTimeVR 180k

3. "studio" QuickTimeVR 184k

4. "studio-blowing, Noda,Shiga" QuickTimeVR 184k

5. "studio-blowing, Noda,Shiga" QuickTimeVR 184k

6. "studio-blowing, Noda,Shiga" QuickTimeVR 180k

7. "gallery-near the window" QuickTimeVR 180k

8. "gallery-entrance" QuickTimeVR 180k

* Glass blowing by Noda.

"from the top of glass center" QuickTimeVR 196k

"glasscenter(right) and museum(left)" QuickTimeVR 196k

To view the QuickTimeVR you need the QuickTime2.5 and the QuickTime plugin, which can be downloaded from http://quicktime.apple.com.
1997. copyright reserved. Akiyama Hirotaka and Matano Koji.