Book for glass artist talks at the World of Glass

As part of the Glass Festival at The World of Glass (TWOG), three glass artists will be speaking about their creative processes and working journeys at the recently upgraded venue in St Helen’s, on Saturday 11 November 2023.

Join Kathryn Webley, Annette Sharkey and James Maskrey for their presentations between 1pm and 4pm. Tickets cost £5.

Kathryn Webley’s talk is entitled ‘Glass from the Cut’. She creates her work on a narrowboat called ‘The Pod’, moored in Worksop, Nottinghamshire on the Chesterfield Canal. When she started living on the canals, she became fascinated by the patterns and reflections in the water and the associated flora of the canal bank. She will talk about the unique challenges of working with glass on a narrowboat.

Annette Sharkey’s presentation is ‘Glass – the Possibilities are Endless’. Her main inspiration is glass itself and its many different facets – reflection, transparency, shadow, opalescence, depth, colour. Having started out with stained glass and glass mosaic, she now focuses on warm glass. Her talk will walk the audience through some of the pieces she has made and the techniques and inspirations behind them.

James Maskrey will speak on the theme ‘Discovery: A journey through a Creative Career’. His glassmaking career spans over 30 years, over 20 of those working for the University of Sunderland at the National Glass Centre (NGC) as a senior technician and academic tutor.

He has facilitated work for many other artists and in 2022 completed a 15-month secondment to the NGC where he was responsible for the hot glass production of Glass Exchange, an ambitious four-artist facilitation project with Ryan Gander, Katie Paterson, Monster Chetwynd and Pascale Marthine Tayoux. He has led masterclasses in different countries and his work is in public and private collections. His talk will follow his creative journey from his first encounter with hot glass through to the present day.

There will be opportunities for questions after each talk.

In addition, the Contemporary Glass Society’s exhibition at TWOG, featuring 54 artists, is on until 17 November 2023.

TWOG is at Chalon Way East, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1BX.

Find out more and book here.

Image: (left to right) Work by Annette Sharkey, Kathryn Webley and James Maskrey.