Habatat Galleries
Royal Oak · Since 2013President & Co-ownerMore than 100 artists from 18 countries, and the International Glass Invitational: the longest-running annual studio glass exhibition in the world.
About
Art dealer and art consultant in contemporary glass: a second-generation gallerist building collections of contemporary studio glass for collectors, museums and institutions.
Corey Hampson grew up inside Habatat Galleries, co-founded in Michigan in 1971 by his father, Ferdinand Hampson, with Linda and Thomas Boone, and one of the country’s longest-established galleries devoted to contemporary glass.
He studied at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business and served as Habatat’s Director of Sales for more than a decade. Since 2013 he and his brother, Aaron Schey, have owned and run the gallery, where Corey is President and leads the special projects division, partnering with museums.
He has curated dozens of museum and art center exhibitions across the United States, written widely on studio glass, and built collections for private collectors and institutions around the world.
In his words
I grew up in my father’s gallery, surrounded by artists who were inventing a medium as they went.
What I learned there is that great collections are built one conversation at a time: between an artist, a collector and the work itself. My job is to make those conversations happen, in the gallery, in museums and in the collections I help build.
Corey Hampson“A place where people can connect with art and discover work that resonates with them.”Corey Hampson · DBusiness, 2026
Work
Galleries & projects
The Factorié
Birmingham · 2026PartnerA contemporary art gallery founded with artist Randi Matalas. Opened October 24, 2026 at 163 Townsend Street, by appointment.
Imagining Utopia
2027 – 2029DirectorThirty-one works by Tim Tate on a five-museum tour, from the American University Museum in Washington to the Palm Springs Art Museum. imaginingutopia.com
Hampson Gallery
St. Petersburg, Florida · 2019–2020A short-lived Habatat gallery at 1939 Central Avenue, steps from the Imagine Museum. It presented Petr Hora’s final exhibition in the United States in February 2020, weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to close.
Art Palm Beach & Next Level Fairs
Former Co-ownerCo-owner of Art Palm Beach, the long-running contemporary art fair at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, and of its producer, Next Level Fairs.
Now touring
Imagining Utopia
Thirty-one works by Tim Tate asking what America could look like if it were a queer accepting country. The exhibition tours five museums from September 2027 through December 2029, opening at the American University Museum in Washington, DC, and closing at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Corey is Director of Imagining Utopia, leading the tour and the museum acquisitions of the works.
Current project
The Gold Standard
A 25th-anniversary initiative of University of Maryland Athletics, raising funds for the department while marking the 2002 men’s basketball national championship. Thirty families, alumni and supporters each cast a panel of yellow-gold glass by hand at the Washington Glass School in Mount Rainier, Maryland, led by Tim Tate, a 1976 Maryland graduate. The finished panels join into one permanent installation on the XFINITY Center concourse, and when the thirty panels are claimed, the program closes.
Corey brings Habatat’s curatorial direction and collector network to the project.
Now at Habatat
Adjacent Futures, Weston Lambert, opens November 7, 2026, and Chasing Light, Dean Bensen & Demetra Theofanous, runs through December 14. See what’s on
Career
Timeline
1971
Ferdinand Hampson co-founds Habatat in Dearborn, Michigan, with Linda and Thomas Boone. Corey grows up inside the gallery.
1990s
Under Ferdinand Hampson, Habatat is an early contributor to the glass collection of Gerard L. Cafesjian, now at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia.
2000s
Director of Sales at Habatat for more than a decade, building the gallery’s collector relationships.
2006
The Ben W. Heineman Sr. Family collection, developed with Habatat, is given to the Corning Museum of Glass, with Habatat as counsel on the donation.
2009
Co-author of Blown Away: International Glass of the 21st Century with the Flint Institute of Arts, where Habatat places Dale Chihuly’s Persian Chandelier in the museum’s lobby for its 80th anniversary. GLASS Quarterly interview, “Our Best SOFA Ever.”
2012
Compiles Studio Glass in America: A 50-Year Journey for the movement’s 50th anniversary.
2013
Takes ownership of Habatat with his brother, Aaron Schey, and becomes President.
2015
Launches Glass Coast Weekend in Sarasota, Habatat’s annual collectors’ weekend on Florida’s Gulf Coast, now in its twelfth year.
2015
The Bruce and Ann Bachmann Collection comes to The Henry Ford, a donation Habatat helped facilitate.
2016
Editor of Glass Art: 112 Contemporary Artists (Schiffer).
2016
Places Bertil Vallien’s Passage, the “One Million Dollar Boat,” in the permanent collection of the Flint Institute of Arts; it arrives in Flint in April 2018.
2017
Speaker at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass symposium. Author of Solid Thoughts for Michael Behrens.
2018
The Imagine Museum opens in St. Petersburg with the founding collection Corey curated for Trish Duggan.
2019
Habatat opens the Hampson Gallery in St. Petersburg, beside the Imagine Museum. It closes in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
Habatat’s 50th International, during the United Nations International Year of Glass.
2023
Contributes to Imagine Museum: Contemporary Glass Art.
2026
Opens The Factorié with Randi Matalas. The Women’s Leadership Center opens with the glass collection built with Ann Drake. Books of Glass goes on view at the Imagine Museum.
2027–29
Imagining Utopia tours five museums.
Services
Working with Corey
Corey works as an art dealer and art consultant specializing in contemporary glass, for first-time buyers, seasoned collectors, corporations and museums.
Collection development
Building private and institutional collections of contemporary glass, from first purchase to museum-level holdings.
Museum placement
Bringing works into permanent collections and partnering with museums on gifts, acquisitions and exhibitions.
Exhibitions & curation
Curating gallery and museum exhibitions, including Habatat’s International Glass Invitational.
Artist representation
Representing glass artists from more than 18 countries through Habatat.
Art dealing & secondary market
Buying, selling and placing important glass: resale, consignment and Habatat’s Masterworks auctions.
Art consulting
Art consulting for private collectors, designers, corporations and institutions: what to acquire, what it is worth, how to care for it and where it belongs.
Collector tours
Traveling with collectors
Corey hosts collectors on journeys into the studios, factories and museums where contemporary glass is made, introducing them to artists in their own workshops.
Prague & Bratislava
The Czech and Slovak glass tradition of Libenský and Brychtová, and the studios of today’s cast-glass masters. 2015 tour
Venice & Murano
The furnaces and maestros of Murano, the island where glassblowing has been practiced for more than seven centuries.
Seattle & the Pacific Northwest
Pilchuck, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and the studios of the Northwest glass community. 2024 itinerary
Australia
The country’s kiln-glass and hot-glass studios, home to artists such as Matthew Curtis and Noel Hart.
Patronage
Supporting the field
Corning Museum of Glass
Member of the Ennion Society, the museum’s leadership circle of patrons supporting its collection, exhibitions and research.
Pilchuck Glass School
Donor and supporter of Pilchuck in Stanwood, Washington, the school co-founded by Dale Chihuly in 1971 that has trained generations of glass artists.
Laura Donefer’s Glass Fashion Show
Contributor to the documentary by filmmaker David Marshall of Blue Sky Projects Films, following Donefer’s 2026 Glass Fashion Show at the Corning Museum of Glass during the Glass Art Society conference. About the film
Talking Out Your Glass
Supporter of the podcast hosted by former Glass Art editor Shawn Waggoner, which records in-depth conversations with the artists, curators and collectors of the glass world. Podcast
Imagine Museum
Gifts of work to the collection he helped found, including a sculpture by Marta Klonowska.
MOCAD
A financial gift to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 2026.
Flint Institute of Arts
Member of the committee for The Party, the museum’s annual gala.
Muskegon Museum of Art
Corey’s gift of a Karen LaMonte sculpture to the museum’s permanent collection.
The Henry Ford
A gift from Corey to the museum’s collection of contemporary studio glass, alongside Habatat’s role in bringing the Bachmann Collection to the museum.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Through Habatat, the gift of Vivian Wang’s Shanghai Tiger, credited to Aaron Schey–Habatat Galleries Michigan, 2021.
Said of Corey
“If anyone wants to learn in detail about glass, Corey and Aaron really are the ones you should contact. They don’t just simply sell glass.”William J. Catalfina · 2025
“The history of contemporary glass has gradually, year by year, been assembled within these gallery walls.”Charles Shepard, President & CEO, Fort Wayne Museum of Art
The Factorié
Opening, October 2026
Opening, October 2026
In the gallery
The Factorié, Birmingham
The Factorié, Birmingham
The site
The world’s glass art gallery since 1971, owned and run since 2013 by Corey Hampson and Aaron Schey.
The collections Corey has built, and the museums, organizations and schools where Habatat runs through the record.
The genealogy of studio glass: how artists, teachers, programs, schools and studios connect, from Harvey Littleton’s first class in 1962 to today.
Habatat, the museums, schools, programs and artists of contemporary glass, around the world.
Artists from the glass world: makers whose work has shaped contemporary glass, many of them represented by or shown at Habatat.
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