Glass Art Society Honors Tom Philabaum

Each year, the Glass Art Society (G.A.S.) honors and acknowledges two individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the glass arts worldwide. Thomas A. Philabaum is being honored with the 2010 Honorary Lifetime Membership Award which will be presented at the annual conference in Louisville, KY., in June.

Tom began blowing glass in the early 1970's, and started Philabaum Glass in 1978. He has served on the boards of the Glass Art Society and the American Craft Council. He received the Arizona Governor's Artist of the Year Award in 1998, and in 2000, was co-founder of The Sonoran Glass Art Academy, a non-profit school to teach the glass arts in southern Arizona. He was instrumental in bringing the G.A.S. Conference to Tucson in 1983, and again in 1997, when he served as Co-Chairman for the event.