CORNING, NY.- Karol Wight, president and executive director of The Corning Museum of Glass, announced today that senior curator of modern and contemporary glass, Tina Oldknow, will retire in September 2015. Since 2000, Oldknow has been responsible for all curatorial aspects of the glass collections dating from 1900 to the present.

“Tina’s impact on our organization over the past 15 years has been tremendous,” said Wight. “She has transformed the displays and collections of the Museum, curated numerous popular exhibitions, is known as a leading expert in the field, and is simply a marvelous colleague. Her magnificent recent installation of our new Contemporary Art + Design Galleries is the exclamation point to her career here and a gift to all who love contemporary art in glass.”

Oldknow most recently curated the inaugural display of the Museum’s newly opened Contemporary Art + Design Wing, the largest space in the world devoted to the display and demonstration of contemporary art and design in glass. She also oversaw the complete reinstallation of the galleries with modern and contemporary glass from 1900-2000.

She has curated numerous special exhibitions at the Corning Museum, notably: Czech Glass: Design in an Age of Adversity 1945-1980 (2005), Curiosities of Glassmaking (2007), Making Ideas: Experiments in Design at GlassLab (2012), as well as focus exhibitions on influential studio glass artists, including Harvey K. Littleton, Erwin Eisch, Richard Marquis, and Toots Zynsky. In 2005, she facilitated the donation of the Ben W. Heineman Sr. Family collection, one of the largest and finest collections of contemporary studio glass in the United States, and subsequently curated the popular exhibition Voices of Contemporary Glass: The Heineman Collection (2009-2011).

“The Corning Museum of Glass has been a dream institution,” said Oldknow. “I have worked with incredible colleagues to tell the story of art in glass. I have been privileged to work with today’s leading artists and collaborate on meaningful commissions for the museum. The completion of the new Contemporary Art + Design Wing is an important milestone and one that I think is the perfect note to exit on. I look forward to staying involved in glass as an independent curator, writing about art and artists, and continuing my work on various advisory boards.”

Oldknow has written extensively on contemporary artists and their work and she has authored many publications, including Dan Dailey (with William Warmus and Milton Glaser, 2007), Contemporary Glass Sculptures and Panels: Selections from The Corning Museum of Glass (2008), Voices of Contemporary Glass: The Heineman Collection (2009), Michael Glancy: Infinite Obsessions (Barry Friedman ed., 2011), and Collecting Contemporary Glass: Art and Design after 1990 from The Corning Museum of Glass (2014). She also edits the Museum’s long-running journal, New Glass Review, an annual survey of contemporary glass.

Her selection of artists for the annual Rakow Commission, which supports the development of new works of art in glass, has both built the collection with important works by emerging and established artists, and has highlighted the careers of the artists honored with this commission.

Prior to her tenure at the Corning Museum, Oldknow held curatorial and advisory positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, and the Seattle Art Museum. She holds a B.A. in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.A. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

She presently serves on the advisory board of North Lands Creative Glass in Caithness, Scotland, and is a member of the International Council of Pilchuck Glass School. In 2014, she was chosen by her peers in the art and craft community to be an Honorary American Craft Council Fellow, recognizing her excellence and experience in the field. From 2003 to 2009, she served as a trustee of the American Craft Council.