Downtown Brooklyn

Glass in Context: Part 1
2025-12-16 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
The history of glass is a rich resource, a tool to help facilitate the realization of ideas, as valuable as a blowpipe, kiln, pencil or paper. Knowledge of the field also helps to locate work in an historical context as well as assisting in the understanding of contemporary practice and issues. What is common to all types of glass is its inherent fluidity, which has always given glass objects their unique quality. As a result of these properties, glass has had, and still has, the widest application of any material. Through a series of presentations, this class will look at some of these applications throughout history, including domestic, sculptural, and architectural.
Part 1: From Egypt to Venice
Week 1: September 23 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM
And Then There Was Glass: Egypt, Greece, Rome
Week 2: October 28 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Medieval Glass: Forest glass, Frankish glass, early Venetian glass
Week 3: November 18 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Glass and Islam: Sassasian and Islamic Glass, and the Rise of Venice
Week 4: December 16 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM
North of the Alps: Northern European Glass
Part 2 will be offered in 2026.

CBH Talk | Page by Page: Jennifer Egan and Hernan Diaz in Conversation
2026-01-13 06:30 - 08:00
Two of today’s most acclaimed novelists, Pulitzer Prize winners Jennifer Egan and Hernan Diaz, come together for a rare, in-depth conversation about the foundations of their craft, their work in archives, and how the historical record can both anchor and ignite narrative invention.
In this intimate one-on-one dialogue, Diaz and Egan will reflect on their celebrated novels, including Trust and Manhattan Beach, and discuss how richly imagined past worlds emerge through meticulous research, archival discovery, and inventive narrative structure.
