Bridging Utility & Creativity: Rethinking Professional Glass Art Education

What does it look like when glass education gets the balance right – between applied skills and artistic practice? Lyudmyla Smakova visited four U.S. glass programs to find out. In this talk, she shares what she observed at RISD, UW–Madison, Temple University, and MassArt, and reflects on how those approaches might inform glass education in Ukraine and beyond – including insights drawn from the experience of the Lviv National Academy of Arts itself.

Dr. Lyudmyla Smakova is a Fulbright Scholar at Bard Graduate Center (NYC), and a lecturer in the Glass Art Department at the Lviv National Academy of Arts (Ukraine). Her research focuses on glass art, the studio glass movement, and creativity theories. She co-organizes the International Blown Glass Symposium in Lviv and serves as an expert in the accreditation of higher education programs for the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance of Ukraine. Her broader professional interests include strategic development in art education, curatorship, and art management.

Lecture with Dr. Lyudmyla Smakova

This is an in person event although a virtual option can be available for those who cannot attend in person. A link to the lecture will be emailed to registered attendees prior to the lecture.