Public Glass

Through our Light a Spark program, Public Glass provides scholarships, reduced-cost classes, and free workshops to individuals and community partners who would not otherwise have access to glass art. This work is rooted in equity—meeting people where they are and ensuring that cost is not a barrier to participation.

Our programs integrate art with science, technology, engineering, and design, offering hands-on experiences that build creativity, problem-solving, and technical skills. From first-time participants to emerging artists, Light a Spark opens pathways into a field that is often out of reach—supporting exploration, building confidence, and creating meaningful opportunities for long-term engagement.

Your support helps us expand this work: strengthening curriculum, deepening community partnerships, and ensuring that access to glass remains open to all.

Link to donate in our bio 🔗

Pineapple Mold With Megan

Take the stress out of using the pineapple mold in this 2 week class. This class will cover the proper set up to go into the pineapple mold, what pipes to use, how to not get stuck in the mold , and how to maintain the pattern without melting it out. We will be using both 16 and 20 point molds which will change the look of the pattern as well getting practice in a 4 inch cup mold and the larger 6 inch mold. This class will also cover what to do if you get stuck within the pineapple mold and how to safely clean up the mold if you do. First class will be in clear with an emphasis on technique and maintaining the pattern on the pipe and punty side. The second class will be applying frit and how that effects going into the mold and how to use the pineapple mold to trap bubbles in a pattern. This class will be 3 students per bench and max out at 2 benches.

* a 16 point 4in pineapple mold will be available after this class for anyone to use

🗓️ July 12 & 19| 12:30-7pm

Link to sign up in Bio

Prerequisites: Level 4 or similar experience.

Cork Cook Create with Matt Wesley 🔥
Join Matt in this week 4 class where students will get to make their own cork lined steel molds, and then take those molds into the hotshop to learn how to blow into them. Each person will get to make one 6 inch x 3 inch cylinder mold and one 4 inch bowl mold. All materials are provided. The students will get to take all the molds made in the class home with them. Students will have the opportunity to bring in other steel tubes to be corked if time allows. If you are interested in bringing extra molds you must do so on the first day of class and Matt will let you know if it is possible.
Starting off with a steel cylinder, students will drill holes into the steel tubes and sand down the holes. Students must be comfortable using a drill. Next the molds will be taken into the kiln shop to learn the steps for prepping, corking, and cooking their molds. Students will learn about kiln program needed to cork the molds. From there the finished molds will be taken into the hotshop, and go over the basic steps to setting up a bubble on hot shop day 1 and how to set up a post gather to blow into molds on hotshop day 2. This class will by 2 class days prepping the molds and 2 class days blowing into the molds. After taking this class students will be able to replicate all of the process on their own.

Schedule: Week 1 → Cut, drill, grind & sand your molds Week 2 → Set up the kiln, cork & cook your molds Week 3 → Master the basic bubble setup for mold blowing Week 4 → Learn post-gather technique & blow into your finished molds

All materials provided. All molds go home with you. 🙌

🗓️ July 10, 17, 24 & 31 | 6–9:30pm

Link to sign up in Bio 🔗

Public Glass is San Francisco’s center for glass art and education—a place where people of all backgrounds can learn, create, and connect through a material that is as technical as it is expressive. Glassmaking is a hands-on art form, passed from person to person through direct experience, mentorship, and shared space. It cannot be replicated through screens or scaled digitally—it must be learned in the studio.

At a time when access to hands-on arts education is increasingly limited, opportunities to work with glass are rare. The equipment, space, and expertise required to practice the medium are significant, making places like Public Glass essential to keeping this art form alive, relevant, and accessible to new generations.

Donate today through the link in our bio 🔗

🔥 Your donation has 2x the impact right now.
This summer, we are raising $30,000 by July 31st to strengthen and expand hands-on educational programs through curriculum development and scholarships for all participants.
This campaign will support dedicated development time for staff and teaching artists to deepen our core curriculum, create innovative specialty workshops, and expand advanced learning opportunities for our community. Areas of focus include alchemy and physics within glassmaking, engineering and innovation in sculptural processes, contemporary mold-making and casting processes, and emerging technologies shaping the future of the field.
By investing in curriculum development, we are not only creating access for new participants, we are building stronger pathways for intermediate and advanced artists to continue learning, experimenting, and growing within the medium.
By investing in curriculum development today, we are shaping the future of glass education tomorrow.

Thanks to a generous $5,000 matching gift, every donation will be doubled until the match is met.

Help us meet the match. Link in bio to donate.

Learn how to sculpt eyes with Instructor Gwynovear Gillespie!

In this 3 day workshop you will learn how to construct the actual components of the eyeball itself (Sclera, Iris, Pupil, and Cornea) as well as how to give the eyes you make a home. You can make it into a pendant or attach it to another object.

Each day will focus on new steps and techniques that will build on each other so by the end you will feel comfortable to continue to make eyes on your own. Whether you want to take this class for eyes specifically or sculpting tips both will be accommodated.

July 5, 12, & 19 | Sundays 12 - 4 PM

Prerequisites: Flameworking level 1- solid techniques, recommended Flameworking level 2