In early May members of ASLA-Fulbright Alumni Association organized a Spring visit to Nuutajärv iGlass Village where U.S. Fulbright Finland Fellow and Glass Artist Jonathan Capps is spending his Fulbright term. Participants included members of the association and current U.S. Fulbrighters in Finland from Turku, Tampere and Helsinki. During the visit attendees learned more about the village’s rich history and glass blowing. At the village the visit started by a guided tour by glass artist Jenni Sorsa who toured the group in the Design Museum Nuutajärvi, which was designed by Kaj Franck a 1955 Fulbright Finland grantee, and the glass works environment while sharing stories of the buildings, pieces of art and the artists of the village. Thanks to Jenni Sorsa and Jonathan Capps, a 2018-2019 U.S. Fulbright Fellow and glass artist located at Nuutajärvi, the group got to see multiple different glass artists, their stores and art pieces as well as a blacksmiths workshop. During the afternoon the group got a close up demo on glass blowing when Jonathan and two other artists started blowing glass just a few meters in front of them. The day concluded with a visit to Jonathan’s studio and a possibility to buy glass pieces made by the amazing artists the group had met and heard about during the day.
