The Stretch Glass Society will hold its 33rd annual convention, show and sale August 1-3 at the Marietta, Ohio Comfort Inn. The Comfort Inn is located east of I-77 at exit 1. The days of this year’s event have been shifted to allow for more coordinated scheduling with the Fenton Art Glass Company’s celebration activities in honor of the company’s 100th anniversary of glass production at the Williamstown West Virginia factory that take place from August 3rd to the 5th.

    •    Doors open to Public from Noon to 5PM

    •    Table Place Settings Club Display Review, ID and Q&A by author/SGS technical guru, Dave Shetlar

    •    Special Guest Speaker – Kelsey Murphy, cameo glass artist from Made In Heaven Studios

    •    Doors open to Public from 10AM to 4PM

    •    Special Seminar Speaker – Shelley Fenton Ash, Graphics Manager, Sales Catalogs, Fenton Art Glass

The public is invited to participate in Thursday’s and Friday’s seminars, reviews and special presentations. Thursday afternoon’s activities include a description and discussion of the Table Place Setting Club Display, a stretch glass ID session and a Q & A period. Hosting these activities will be SGS’s technical adviser and co-author of “American Iridescent Stretch Glass,” Dave Shetlar. Shetlar has been involved with researching stretch glass since the 1970s so, anyone curious about iridescent stretch glass or who has a stretch glass item that they would like to have ID’d, should attend these sessions.

 

Murphy, along with her fellow artist-partner, Robert Bomkamp, specialize in glass cameo carving and have recently teamed with Fenton Art Glass to design and produce some limited edition pieces and to train company carvers in this exacting art. According to company publicity, “The art of glass cameo carving requires great skill, dexterity in execution, and is a painstaking process”. The two artists create their works of art from their Made In Heaven Studios located in rural West Virginia.

On Friday, the doors will be open to the public from 10AM to 4PM. Visitors are welcome to view members’ stretch glass on display and on sale throughout the day. This day is more “laid back” for SGS members with the first public presentation scheduled for 2PM. The Society is anticipating an excellent presentation by Shelley Fenton Ash—third generation Fenton family member, youngest daughter of the late Bill Fenton and granddaughter of company founder, Frank L. Fenton. This Williamstown native joined the Fenton management team in 1982 and in 1988 began working closely with her father developing items for the successful QVC market. Today, she concentrates mainly on catalog design and production, but continues her input on QVC matters. Her presentation will offer attendees a look at the history of the Fenton Art Glass Catalog and product development for QVC.