International Festival of Glass draws to a close

Thousands of visitors have attended the 2022 International Festival of Glass exhibitions and events over the last five weeks, but the British Glass Biennale, the International Bead Biennale and ‘Expanding Horizons’ must end on 1 October at 4pm.

The organisers invite everyone to attend the closing ceremony, which starts at 3pm with live music and refreshments, at The Glasshouse Arts & Heritage Centre in Stourbridge, West Midlands.

The closing event will see the announcement of the remaining three award winners. Warm Glass have sponsored The People’s Prize, for which visitors have been casting their votes for their favourite piece throughout the exhibition.

The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers have sponsored The Young Collector’s Award. To ignite a passion for collecting glass from a young age, the winner will receive a glass sculpture, Robbie the Raven, blown by Stewart Hearn.

Finally, the winner of The Guild of Glass Engravers Award will be selected from pieces in the exhibition that use the technique of glass engraving.

The inaugural International Bead Biennale, a sister exhibition to the British Glass Biennale this year, shone a light on miniature pieces of glass art, and proved a popular addition to the Festival line up.

The Festival also curated its first major international exhibition, ‘Expanding Horizons’, which was an invitational exhibition, displaying the exquisite glass artwork of 34 artists from China, Japan and Korea, many of whom were showing for the first time in the UK. This offered a contrasting aesthetic to the British Glass Biennale.

Three of the Festival exhibitions continue into October: ‘the Contemporary Glass Society at 25: Past, Present, the Future’ continues at Stourbridge Glass Museum until 30 October 2022. Glass artwork has been selected to showcase a range of techniques from the past 25 years from 25 of the UK’s greatest glass artists, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the organisation.

Additionally, there is ‘Collaborations’ at Wolverhampton Art Gallery until 16 October, as well as ‘Expanding Horizons #2: China to Wolverhampton’ at the MC Gallery until 20 October 2022.

Find out more on the International Festival of Glass website.

Image: A view of the International Festival of Glass 2022. Image: John Plant Imagery.