How To Hold Glass

Rach Klein

A Documentary Screening and Artist Talk-Back on the Life and Work of Toan Klein
This presentation will consist of a screening of the short film How to Hold Glass (approx. 38 minutes), followed by a talk-back on the process of engaging with the multi-medium personal archives of Toan Klein, who has had an active career in glassmaking for over 50 years. I will share my experiences and insights on ‘translating’ glass – as well as its accompanying supporting materials – into film, as well as provide time for a Q&A to answer audience questions.

Artist Bio: Rach Klein is an artist and art historian based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Currently a PhD student at McGill university working with an enigmatic collection of seventeenth-century feather mosaics, Klein’s research-creation approach explores institutional and personal archives, making use wide-ranging material ephemera to tell the engrossing stories of unique art and artists. Her experimental documentary How to Hold Glass entangles archival material, still photography, audio interviews, and animated forms to create a tender portrait of the life and work of glassmaker and father, Toan Klein. How To Hold Glass premiered to a sold-out audience at the Museum of Jewish Montreal in 2023.