By Noa Yadidi

Matthew Szosz, who was recently selected to take part in an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, spoke to glass students last Thursday about his different techniques and experiences in the art world.

Visual arts teacher Dylan Palmer invited Szosz to speak to his fifth and sixth period classes and Directed Studies glass students. Szosz demonstrated glass processes he has developed.

“I thought, ‘wow, that’s really cool,’” glass student Mark Swerdlow ’12 said. “I was able to start to see the applications of what we do and where they would end up going.”

Szosz has been selected to be a part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s upcoming exhibition “40 under 40: Craft Futures” from July 2012 to February 2013.

The exhibition will feature and investigate the evolution of different types of art and will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the museum’s Renwick Gallery.

Szosz is also the Interim Executive Director of Public Glass, a non-profit hot glass studio and school in San Francisco.

Szosz attended the Rhode Island School of Design and received a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Industrial Design and a Masters Fine Arts in Glass. Szosz taught students real-world application of glass and all the unique techniques he uses in his art.

“I learned to explore different stuff and not get so stuck in the stuff that we learn,” Directed Studies student Jake Schapiro ’12 said. “Especially in Directed Study, we can just explore, which is a lot like what he did and stuff he’s doing now. He just did what he wanted to do.”