Sociology Professor Erin O’Connor Publishes Book on Glassblowing
In August 2025, Columbia University Press will publish Fire Craft: Art, Body, and World Among Glassblowers. Erin O’Connor, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Marymount Manhattan College.
From the publisher’s website:
Glassblowing by hand might seem like a dying art, yet it is thriving: Studios and universities offer popular classes, and glass art is widely exhibited and sold. Amateur and professional glassblowers alike are captivated by the choreography of fire, smoke, and molten material. Why are people drawn to this ancient craft? What is distinctive about the social, physical, and intellectual experience of glassblowing? How does the body learn an art?
Though Dr. O’Connor’s primary teaching focus is within the field of sociology, she is a globally recognized expert in craft studies and received the Rakow Grant to study glassblowing in 2023. As an associate professor at MMC, Dr. O’Connor has spent years teaching courses such as EcoCulture and Sustainability, Anthropology at Museums in NYC, Radical Labor and Artisan Movements, and Great Social Thinkers. Fire Craft is her first book.
Fire Craft is available for preorder now!
Published: March 20, 2025
Sociology Professor Erin O’Connor to Give International Lecture on Studio Glassblowing
On October 7, Associate Professor of Sociology Erin O’Connor, Ph.D, will deliver a seminar called The Elemental Work of Studio Glassblowing.
