Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass provides extraordinary glass experiences to ignite creativity, spark fun, and cultivate learning for all. We are pleased to exhibit glass art made by area high school students in Teen Voices in Glass: 2025 Area High School Glass Exhibition. After creating glass art in the Museum’s Glass Studio, students from over sixteen area high schools have the opportunity to share their work in this public setting. Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass strives to encourage the creativity of talented young artists in the area with this annual exhibit.
Teen Voices in Glass: 2025 Area High School Glass Exhibition and Glass Experience Days are presented by Jewelers Mutual.
Awards presented by Jewelers Mutual and also supported in part by Jack Richeson & Co., the Lilian Noble Memorial Fund, and Oshkosh Fine Arts Association.
Victorian GLass Baskets
Did you know that in addition to antique glass paperweights, Evangeline Bergstrom also collected decorative glass tableware, vases and baskets? These baskets reached the height of their popularity around 1885. English and American glass factories responded to the rise of consumerism and the increasing desire for highly-embellished items by creating and marketing fanciful glass table decorations for middle and upper-class households. Come see a selection of Mrs. Bergstrom’s Victorian Art Glass Baskets, on exhibit in the Mabel R. McClanahan Memorial Study Gallery through August.
Primer: Leo Tecosky
Born in Albuquerque, NM and raised in Miami, FL, Leo Tecosky works at the intersection of cultural and craft traditions in the pursuit of knowledge and self. With a BA in Fine Arts from Alfred University and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, Tecosky’s site specific installation Primer mixes deconstructed elements of hip hop with technical glass making processes. Tecosky is the recipient of the 36th annual Corning Museum Rakow Commission as well as the 2023 Maxwell/Hanrahan Award in Craft. Recent exhibitions include TECO037 at Alma’s RVA and collections by the Chrysler Museum and the Corning Museum of Glass. Tecosky lives and blows in Brooklyn, NY. His work will transform the museum’s Blue Gallery from March 7 to July 27, 2025.
Funded in part by a grant from the Green Bay Packer Foundation.
Through a Window Darkly:
the artwork of Jen blazina
Artist Jen Blazina is a Philadelphia sculptor and printmaker who uses glass as her primary medium. She received her MFA in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art; her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in New York at Purchase College in Purchase, NY. Through a Window Darkly: The Artwork of Jen Blazina pays homage to Evangeline Bergstrom, one of Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass founders. Blazina’s work is influenced by commonplace possessions, familial vignettes and photographs. These evoke an ephemeral sense of past memories. Through the process of re-creating and casting mementos in glass and metal, she seeks to transform their history in her own voice. On exhibit in the museum’s Wisconsin Gallery from April 25 to October 5, 2025.
Funding provided in part by grants from the Green Bay Packer Foundation and from the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG).
After obtaining his Master of Fine Arts degree at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Gene Koss started the Tulane University glass program and brought the movement of glass art to New Orleans. He uses steel and glass to create monumental works. Working with serial cast glass parts to enlarge scale and combining these elements with steel and wood, he has raised glass sculpture to the realm of public art. Koss’s work has had a profound impact on American artists working in both steel and glass media.
Koss is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Endowment for the Arts; the New Orleans Community Arts Award; and Pace-Willson Art Foundation grants. His work is included in numerous private collections and has been displayed in museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad, including the International Biennale for Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy, and has been featured in International Glass Art, Contemporary Glass-Color, Light & Form and Glass Art from Urban Glass publications. Koss is represented by Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, LA.
In 2019 Gene Koss Sculpture was published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, and released internationally. The monograph features Koss’ most important artistic achievements created during his 45-year career, and, through insightful essays by well recognized critics and curators, places his sculptures in historic perspective.
Lead Sponsorship of this exhibition provided The Boldt Company.
Based in Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, artist Sharon Fujimoto creates art and functional objects using glass as the basic medium. She believes in the simplicity of form and color and the fact that “…’accidents’ are a beautiful thing.” She says, “I am not the master of my medium, I simply go with the flow as a witness, a participant and a supervisor. The end result is a one-of-a-kind object that will hopefully endure trends and fads – a piece that will make a connection with the artist and the viewer.”
As a result of her selection as the 1st place winner, sponsored by Rosann Baum Milius, of the 2023 GLASS Arts Festival, Fujimoto’s art will be on exhibit in the museum’s Blue Gallery through February.
One-of-a-Kind: unique perthshire paperweights