GLASSROOTS TO FEATURE STUDENT ARTWORK AT HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE DECEMBER 7 AT NEWARK STUDIOS

Entrepreneurs and College Fellowship Graduates Showcased in Holiday Fair

Glass jewelry by Newark resident Caleb Thomas.

NEWARK, NJ (November 30, 2017) — GlassRoots is pleased to announce its Holiday Open House in their studios at 10 Bleeker Street, Newark, NJ on Thursday, December 7, from 9am-7pm, as part of Downtown Newark’s annual “Holidays on Halsey,” a celebration of local artists and businesses.

GlassRoots is an active hot glass shop and nonprofit glass-arts education space, providing artistic and college-and-career readiness programs to the greater Newark community and beyond for over sixteen years. All GlassRoots’ hand-blown glass jewelry and art is made on site by staff and students.
 
This year’s holiday showcase features the jewelry of nineteen year old Newark resident Caleb Thomas, a graduate of GlassRoots’ craft entrepreneurship program Bead Shop, along with other graduates of this innovative workshop. Caleb creates his pieces using cast-off jewelry from his mother, grandmother and aunts, deconstructing the original items and adding handmade glass to produce something totally new. His necklaces, bracelets and earrings will be available for sale on Thursday. The Bead Shop program, designed as a 20-hour intensive, teaches participants the art of glass-jewelry making as well as the fundamentals of business ownership, including how to set up an online sales shop on the Etsy platform.
 
As a bonus, from 4pm–7pm GlassRoots will celebrate its’ six 2017 GlassRoots-Penland Fellowship graduates -- Adelin Figueroa, Melissa Tapia, Kevin Thomas, Joshua Toler, Gianna Torres and Nicholas Wisniewski, in the first ever public showing of their work. In its second year, the GlassRoots-Penland Fellowship is a college-and-career readiness program, which provides high school graduates studio and life-skills training. This program take place at GlassRoots’ Newark studios and at The Penland School of Crafts, in Penland, North Carolina over 13-weeks. Each student who successfully completes the program receives up to nine transferrable college credits.

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About GlassRoots
GlassRoots is a Newark-based 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for achievement to youth and young adults by engaging them in the creation of glass art and the development of entrepreneurial and life skills. GlassRoots programs are STEAM-based (STEM+Art), and are offered as in-school residencies, after-school and summer arts programs, workforce development programs, and as workshops for teens and adults, using competency in handling molten glass as a pathway to personal development.  For more information, please call 973.353.9555 or email info@glassroots.org.