B Team Records

Collection

Identifier: MS-0197

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The B Team Records document the performances, demonstrations and tours of a troupe of performance artists who worked with blown glass. The collection consists of seven series:

(1) Administrative, 1989-1999

(2) Notebooks, Circa 1992-1998

(3) Performances, 1991-1998

(4) Promotional Materials, 1989-1999

(5) Photographs, 1991-1999

(6) Artifacts, Undated

(7) Audiovisual Materials, Circa 1990-1999

Dates

Creation: 1989-1999

Creator

B Team (Performance group) (Organization)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for public research. Researchers must make an appointment to view this collection.

Digital materials are available for use in the Rakow Research Library. Please contact the Library for access.

Conditions Governing Use

The Copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. The user agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Corning Museum of Glass and the Rakow Research Library against all claims, demands, costs and expenses incurred by copyright infringement or any other legal or regulatory cause of action arising from the use of Library materials.

Biographical / Historical

In 1990, Zesty Meyers, an undergraduate student in the glass department of the Massachusetts College of Art, had an idea to put together a team of people who had different skills and ideas about hot glass, and who were interested in sharing their ideas with others. Initially formed as the Massachusetts College of Art Student Glass Tour in 1991, the team toured several colleges over the course of nearly three weeks. By the end of that time, the group was exhausted, and chose not to continue.

Meyers formed another performance group in 1992, beginning a pattern of fluid team membership that changed depending on the personal needs of members and the group at the time. Team members had varying backgrounds in glass, and concerned themselves with challenging traditional ideas of what glass could do. Following the 1992 tour, the designation “B Team” was solidified by critic Regina Hackett, who used the phrase to distinguish the group as the up and comers in the world of glass.

The B Team became less interested in touring over the years, instead preferring demonstrations and performances, and creating installations of their work. Performances were large-scale affairs, with a number of behind-the-scenes assistants, and were highly successful. Two major productions were Spontaneous Combustion and Spontaneous Combustion II. The team became adept at fundraising for these ventures, and were awarded grants from such organizations as the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. Team installations included the Five Senses Touch, Sight, Globfling, and the later A False Perspective, each highlighting the team’s dedication to unconventional glass forms, and in challenging conventional ideas of what these forms could be.

In 1998, the B Team received the prestigious Bessie award from the New York Dance and Performance League. The successful group chose to permanently disband this year, and the artists went their different ways to focus on their individual art careers.