The Bloomington Creative Glass Center will present Venice Reimagined, a Renaissance glass blowing festival, from 1-5 p.m. on May 7. Glass blowing, a glassmaking technique where an artisan inflates molten glass by breathing into it with a blowpipe, dates back to the Roman empire.
The event will take place at the Creative Glass Center, located at 229 W. Grimes Lane. It is free to attend, but there is a suggested donation for visitors to participate in glassmaking and crafts.
The center’s website invites visitors to “experience the wonders of 15th century Venice” with glass blowing demonstrations, live music, sword fighting, crafts and storytelling. At the beginning of each hour, visitors have the opportunity to make a cold murrini piece.
Artisans will make their own murrini and glass cane pieces. According to the event’s website, visitors can bid to win pieces made in front of them..
The event is a collaboration with the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the Society of Creative Anachronism, a Middle Ages and Renaissance reenactment and research group. It’s put on with support from the Bloomington Arts Commission.
