Please Note: This course has rescheduled dates (originally April 16 - May 21, 2018).

In this six-session course held at the instructor's Washington studio, explore the mysteriously compelling qualities of neon light and create your own illuminated object. The course begins with a lecture in which the instructor discusses the elusive qualities of neon and its history and commercial development featuring the work of artists such as Chryssa and Mario Merz from the Smithsonian collections.

In the following hands-on sessions, participants learn to bend glass tubing and observe demonstrations of the process of tube bombarding and rare-gas filling. The course is open to beginning as well as advanced students.

An $85 supply fee, payable to the instructor at the first class, covers the cost of shared supplies, the use of the bending equipment, and the processing of a neon tube made by each student. The purchase of a transformer to operate your sculpture is optional and a separate fee payable to the instructor.

Instructor: Craig Kraft

6 sessions (One 1.5 hour lecture and five 3-hour workshops)