Glassworks, Louisville, KY

A downtown hotspot dedicated to the art of glass

by Carrie Daut | September 16, 2011

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Move over Murano, Italy. There’s a new glassmaking mecca on the map: lovely Louisville, Kentucky.

Ok, so that’s probably an exaggeration. Although we aren’t quite there – yet – the city of Louisville does offer visitors a chance to step into the fascinating world of glassblowing at Louisville’s Glassworks.

Part studio, part gallery and part hands-on workshop, Glassworks invites guests to tour, shop and create in one of the most complete glass centers in the world.

At its location in the heart of downtown Louisville, Glassworks contains 3 working glass studios. In the hot glass studio, artists gather molten glass from 2200°F furnaces and then carefully blow, twist and shape the matter into works of art.

Insider Tip: The hot glass studio is located directly on your left as you enter Glassworks. A glass viewing wall separates visitors from the artists, so take a seat and watch the process – and have fun guessing what the finished products might be.

Upstairs in the flameworking studio, resident and visiting artists use blowtorches to delicately reshape glass into intricate pieces. And across the hall, the building houses Glassworks’ founding studio Architectural Glass Art, Inc. (AGA).

AGA is a progressive art glass studio that produces large-scale, custom-designed works of glass for buildings throughout the world. Visitors can tour the models in their gallery, spotting projects they recognize from Louisville buildings and beyond.

Back downstairs, guests can tour Glassworks’ 2 glass galleries or create their own unique glass art in the Walk-In Workshop. The workshop is open daily and offers projects from sun catchers to coasters, jewelry to nightlights and more. For prices and project time lengths, read more about the Walk-In Workshop.

Insider Tip: Glassworks also offers 4 to 6-week long classes, as well as special opportunities to blow your own glass. Saturdays during September and October, you can create your own hand-blown apples and pumpkins ($50-$60).

Touring Glassworks takes approximately one hour. Tours include all 3 studios and a short video. Self-guided tours are available Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (adults $4.50, students/seniors $3.50), and guided tours are led on Saturdays at 11 a.m, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. (adults $6.50, seniors $5.50, students $4.50). No tours on Sunday.

Glassworks is located at 815 West Market Street, part of Louisville’s Museum Row. Parking is available on the street and in various downtown lots and garages. For more information on Glassworks, visit louisvilleglassworks.com.