Mad Hot Glass Flameworking Demonstration

Madeline Rile Smith

Madeline Rile Smith is a Philadelphia-based artist specializing in glass sculpture and jewelry. Her artistic process is known as flameworking. She uses the flame of a torch to melt and shape glass into works of art. Madeline started working with glass ten years ago as a high school student. At the time she was a dedicated musician, planning to become a professional violist. But her passion for glass took over and she decided to devote her life to glass art. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art and graduated from Tyler School of Art at Temple University with a BFA in Glass Art. In the fall of 2018 she will attend the Master of Fine Arts Glass program at Rochester Institute of Technology. Madeline studied many different glass blowing techniques at studios including Corning Museum of Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Pilchuck Glass School, all of which inform her overall process. Her award-winning sculptural work has been exhibited widely across the country. In addition to being an artist and creator, she teaches private flameworking lessons and has also taught at the acclaimed glass program at Salem Community College in New Jersey, and at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn.