Live and Virtual Evenings at Hot Glass -- August 14.

Hot Glass in Person: Friday, August 14, 7 – 9 p.m.

Hot Glass Virtual Viewing: Friday, August 14, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Hot Glass, 104 Western Avenue, Davenport IA

Co-presented by the Figge Art Museum in conjunction with the venue's 15th-anniversary celebration, simultaneous live and virtual presentations will be held at Davenport's Hot Glass art studio on August 14, with founder and executive director Joel Ryder delivering a fascinating live glass-blowing demonstration and the resulting artwork auctioned off at the evening's end.

Hot Glass offers a unique model in using art as a means of intervention with Veterans and youth, as teens are oftentimes faced with a lack of positive activities for their age group. All of the youth and Veteran programs are tuition-free for students via a program made possible through grants, schools, and corporate funds. In working with glass, students develop essential skills including teamwork, communication, planning, and decision-making, as well as specific job related applications. Most importantly, students learn that they have the responsibility, and the power, to shape their own futures by participating in these unique programs. Hot Glass also offers a variety of classes, corporate team-building events, seasonal events, and annual sales to supplement operating costs, with funding also provided by way of private donations, corporate donations, and grants. All proceeds from these classes and events are used to fund our youth programs.

Hot Glass is a hands-on, non-profit organization dedicated to the instruction, presentation, interpretation, collection, documentation and preservation of the contemporary glass art movement with a special focus on team building. Since its inception, Hot Glass' goal has been to become the premier center for the advancement of glass art for the greater Quad City region, and its primary focus is to connect all sectors of our community with diverse cultural and economic backgrounds and to improve life experiences through glass art. Founder and executive director Ryser was the head football coach for Moline High School from 2001 to 2009, was a 2004 Illinois Humanities Council Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award recipient, and received the Lloyd Schoeneman Community Impact Award in 2014.

The August 14 “Hot Glass in Person” presentation takes place at the Davenport studio from 7 to 9 p.m., with tickets $30 for Figge members and $35 for non-members. The event includes beverages, desserts by Connie's Confections, perusals of the handmade glass pieces already on display, and the auctioning of Ryser's newly created glass work. (Guests can only bid on the work in person.) Friday's “Hot Glass Virtual Viewing” takes place from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a Zoom link provided on the day of the event for registered participants, and tickets are $10 for Figge members and $15 for non-members.

For more information on both events, visit FiggeArtMuseum.org. For a 2014 Reader interview with Ryser, visit “Hearts of Glass: Artisans and Students Make Hot Glass in a New Davenport Studio.”

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