Has your creative group done something you are really proud of during the past year? If so, it is time to enter the Creative Lives Awards – an annual celebration of volunteer-led creativity across the UK and Ireland.
Groups of all sizes and art/craft forms are eligible to enter the Awards, as long as there is considerable volunteer involvement in both the planning and activity of the group.
The Awards aim to shine a spotlight on creative groups across the UK and Ireland that enhance their communities and make people’s lives better. The Awards have been running since 2010.
The organisers say that previous winners have found being shortlisted or winning a Creative Lives Award has had a significant impact on group morale; proved valuable for funding applications and boosted their profile in the local media.
The submission deadline is Monday 13 May 2024.
A winner and runner-up from each nation will be chosen by a panel of judges by the end of July 2024, with an expenses-paid awards ceremony in London on 26 September 2024.
As part of its Members’ Day, the Society of Designer Craftsmen (SDC) is inviting members and non-members to a lunch and discussion on ‘Digital Technology in Craft’ in London on 11 May 2024.
Panellists Jonathan Keep, Jack Puzey, Beth Somerville and Angela Thwaites will present their work and reveal their approaches to blending digital technology with traditional techniques.
SDC will be asking what part digital technology plays in craft and what craftspeople think about AI. This event will also be an opportunity for participants to share how they use digital tools in their own practice, or, if they do not, why they do not. The SDC eagerly anticipates a thought-provoking discussion on the evolving definition of craft in the digital age.
Craft is often defined as a practice inextricably linked to the hand of the maker, but innovative digital technologies are changing and refining that definition, to astounding effect.
When: Saturday 11 May 2024, 12.30pm-5pm Where: Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT
Agenda: 12.30pm-1.30pm: Lunch and Social 1.30pm-4.30pm: Members’ Day – Digital Technology in Craft Presentations by Jonathan Keep, Jack Puzey, Beth Somerville and Angela Thwaites, working in textiles, glass and ceramics, followed by questions and discussion.
Booking is essential via this link, for a suggested donation of £8 (non-members) to help cover the cost of the event.
Image: Glass artist Angela Thwaites will be one of the speakers.
Glass Network magazine editor, Linda Banks, highlights some of the content in the upcoming print magazine, which will be arriving through members’ doors soon
Whatever stage we are at with our glassmaking – from established professional to just starting out – it is always fascinating to hear about the people who have made a successful career through working with this fabulous material. What are those magic ingredients that come together to allow them to grow a thriving business?
The upcoming May 2024 edition #84 of the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) magazine Glass Networkseeks to uncover the secrets through a series of articles focusing on some of the enduring names in contemporary glass – from US stars like Dale Chihuly and Paul Stankard to leading lights in British glass, such as Effie Burns.
The enduring traits among those who have ‘made it’ include dedication to perfecting their craft, gritty determination in the face of adversity, collaboration, vision and no small amount of talent.
Whether you are a business owner or a hobbyist, I hope readers of this issue will find these stories uplifting and inspirational.
We also feature a preview of the final British Glass Biennale/International Festival of Glass/Bead Biennale under the stewardship of the Ruskin Mill Land Trust at The Glasshouse in Stourbridge, West Midlands, this summer, before the Glass Art Society takes the reins for the 2026 event.
As usual, there will be many glass-focused events around the area during the exhibition period (23 August-28 September 2024) and CGS will have its regular display of members’ glass postcards for sale, plus the ‘New Horizons’ exhibition (also previewed in the magazine).
Please look out for books of raffle tickets in your envelope, with the opportunity to win glass prizes by some big names in contemporary glass, including Peter Layton, Max Jacquard, Teign Valley Glass, Gillies Jones, Simon Moore and many more. CGS hopes you will buy them yourself or sell them to friends and family, to help raise funds that the Board will use for projects and exhibitions to benefit our members.
Glass Network print magazine is sent to all members of CGS. If you are not yet a member and would like to join, why not sign up via this link?
19th July, 2022.Artist Paula Stokes photographed in Dublin Castle today with her installation:
1845: Memento Mori which consists of 1,845 handblown glass potatoes remembering the Great Irish Famine. It has taken the Paula 15 years to complete and will go on display in Dublin Castle from this Friday the 22nd July, it's an astonishing piece of work and must be seen. The title of the project references the year the potato blight came to Ireland, marking the beginning of a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration.Photo: Barry Cronin info@barrycronin.com 087-9598549
Paula Stokes has worn many hats in the art world, including being a glassmaker and supporter of the glass community through teaching and establishing an art gallery. With her latest, poignant work, featuring 1845 glass potatoes, she hopes to elicit compassionate reflection on the past. Linda Banks finds out more.
You have had a varied career in the arts, as a maker, facilitator, educator and gallery co-founder. What led you to start working with glass?
I discovered hot glass as an artistic material at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. I was drawn to it immediately. It seemed dangerous, exciting, and just really cool! I had absolutely no natural affinity to working with the material. It was too hot, uncomfortable and uncontrollable. But I didn’t know any better, so stuck at it, for better or worse.
What glass techniques have you used and which do you prefer?
I am primarily a glassblower. I like the immediacy of working in that technique and the social interaction of working within a team.
‘1845: Memento Mori’, blown and sandblasted glass. Photo: Ian Lewis.
What is your creative approach? Do you draw your ideas out or dive straight in with the materials?
My most recent work, ‘1845: Memento Mori’, a memorial to the 19th century Great Irish Famine, slowly evolved over 20 years. Its inspiration was more personal. It partly came from my reflections as an Irish immigrant living in the United States, grappling with a sense of displacement and national identity. It was also a response to an increasingly divisive political atmosphere, both in the States and globally.
I spent four years creating this work and exhibiting it in eight different museums and heritage sites in the US, Ireland and Great Britain. I was the artist, producer, director, art handler, fundraiser and PR person on this project. Right now, I am taking a much-needed creative pause.
The ‘1845: Memento Mori’ installation has been displayed at a variety of locations. Here it is at the Single Room Cabin Potato Patch, Ulster American Folk Park, Ireland. Photo: Róisín de Buitléar.
You have made some impressive art installations. What message(s) do you want to convey through your art?
In ‘1845: Memento Mori’, I want to commemorate and humanise a specific time in Irish history, and its effects on so many people – those who perished, those who emigrated and those who survived and stayed. I want people to be drawn in and to reflect upon it in their own personal way, and hopefully provoke compassion towards others, especially now. One does not need to be Irish or of Irish heritage to understand the horror and tragedy of this period in Irish history.
A moving display at the Ulster American Folk Park, Ireland. Photo: Barry Cronin.
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
I love the woodworking awl I use for poking dents into my glass potatoes, and I also love the oxy-propane torch for fire-polishing punties.
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
I have a piece by my bed that I made when I was 20 years old. It’s a two-piece sculpture that looks like a treble clef. I love it because it was one of the first pieces that I made that had really good composition and design, and also it was one of the first pieces I sold (the collector gave it back to me when she was downsizing).
You set up the METHOD gallery in 2013. What was the thinking behind this decision?
I co-founded METHOD, a non-profit gallery, with three other artists. We all recognised a need for a physical space where artists could experiment and explore concepts and ideas on a large scale, without the pressure to sell the work, and with the support of other artists in a nurturing environment.
For many of the exhibiting artists, including myself, our exhibitions became the visual steppingstones to bigger and larger opportunities in museums and public art commission.
‘1845: Memento Mori’ at the Women’s Dormitory, Portumna Workhouse, Galway, Ireland. Photo: Barry Cronin.
What would you say are the greatest challenges for people starting out on a glass career? What advice would you give to someone launching a creative career?
One of the biggest challenges I see right now is access to education. So many of the formal glass programmes in colleges and non-profits are being cut or closed. In the absence of access, traveling abroad may be necessary. Yet, on a positive note, there are programmes, like the Hilltop Artists in the US, that are thriving.
My advice for anyone launching a creative career is to be prepared to be a multi-tasker. Unless you are Dale Chihuly, you will need to not only be the creative force but also the accountant, the grants writer, the social media maven and the salesperson. Most artists are self-employed and have no financial safety net, so save whatever you can for the future. Diversify your skillsets – teach, work in arts administration, or volunteer your time to support others in the arts community.
Do not take rejection from open calls personally (I know that is harder than it sounds). Know your niche and your audience. Stay true to yourself, be authentic and be generous to others. What goes around comes around.
Do you have a career highlight?
‘1845: Memento Mori’ at St Patrick’s Hall, Dublin Castle, Ireland. Photo: Barry Cronin.
A major career highlight for me was the opening night launch of ‘1845: Memento Mori’ in Saint Patrick’s Hall at Dublin Castle, by President Mary Robinson. I have enormous respect for her and her humanitarian work. It was the first major public opening of my exhibition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I created a 40-foot-long mirrored banquet table, piled with ghostly glass potatoes and placed it the most significant and prestigious room in Irish political and historical life. During the Famine, the elite would attend lavish banquets in this room, while the less fortunate starved. The juxtaposition of a contemporary political work in this space was unprecedented, and its presence confronted a complicated past.
Where is your practice heading next?
I am not creating new art now. Instead, I am flexing my arts administrative skills as a consultant for Refract Seattle, an annual glass festival. I extend an invitation to you to come and visit Seattle and look me up for that event, which takes place from 17-20 October 2024.
About the artist
Paula Stokes working on one of the 1845 glass potatoes. Photo: Rozarii Lynch.
Paula Stokes is an Irish artist based in Seattle, US. Since moving to the US in 1993, she has worked extensively within visual arts management and education, in the non-profit (Pratt Fine Arts Center, Pilchuck Glass School and METHOD Gallery) and for-profit (Chihuly Studio) sectors.
Stokes’ artwork has been exhibited in the US and Ireland and is part of the National Museum of Ireland’s permanent collection.
Nine experts working across a variety of glass techniques will be hosting Masterclasses as part of the UK’s International Festival of Glass (IFoG) in August 2024 and bookings are now open.
The Masterclasses take place at either the Ruskin Glass Centre in Stourbridge, West Midlands, or at The Glass Foundry in Stroud, Gloucestershire (check each class for location details) over the four days of 19-22 August (immediately preceding the IFoG itself, which takes place in Stourbridge from 23-26 August). From traditional glass painting to laminated glass sculptures to stipple drawing with glass in 3D, there are classes to inspire all.
Each class costs £650, plus there is an optional evening event in Stroud for Masterclass participants to meet the class leaders over dinner and drinks (costing £29.50).
Masterclasses:
Ellen van Dijk: Shaping light – traditional glass painting
Emma Biggs: Glass mosaic – visual sense from incoherent fragments
Georgia Redpath: Modular making: the unique from the repeat
Holly Cooper: Powder play
Ian Pearson: Intensive scientific glassblowing
Mike Raman: PipeGeist
Uukako Kojima: Lamination glass sculpture
Yukiko Sugano: Stippling drawing with glass in 3D
Zhenning Li: Casting possibilities with glass.
There are also four free places available to disabled artists. Read more details of this opportunity here.
Four free Masterclasses are on offer for disabled/D/deaf/neurodivergent artists based in the UK. They are provided by the International Festival of Glass (IFoG) and take place immediately before the Festival, on 19-22 August 2024, at locations in Stourbridge and Gloucestershire. The Masterclasses are taught by world-renowned glass artists in a variety of glassmaking techniques over the course of the four days.
Each place is valued at £650 and IFoG will also cover the cost of any access requirements needed, such as a BSL interpreter, note taker, or skilled creative enabler.
Successful applicants will need to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.
Some classes are suitable for beginners, so applicants will not need to have previous glass experience for these classes (please check the descriptions for information).
The IFoG follows on immediately after the Masterclasses, from the 23-26 August, in Stourbridge.
The Masterclasses take place at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge, West Midlandsor The Glass Foundry, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
How to apply:
Tell IFoG what difference this opportunity would make to your arts practice.
Provide a brief biography and information about any training you have already done.
Tell us about your access requirements.
Provide five images of your recent work and/or a link to your website or social media page(s).
Tell us your top three choices of Masterclass. Masterclass descriptions are available to view at https://ifg.org.uk/
Deadline to apply: 10 May.
Please send your application and any questions to ifg@rmlt.org.uk
Image: Glass beads made by Holly Cooper, one of the Masterclass tutors.
The increasingly popular annual London Craft Week takes place from 13-19 May 2024, with events and exhibitions at venues across the city showcasing talented makers working in many disciplines.
Glass highlights include a free outdoor exhibition of works by US glass master Dale Chihuly at Chelsea Barracks, Belgravia, in the inaugural edition of ‘Modern Masters’ (13-19 May 2024).
Four of Dale Chihuly’s installations have been thoughtfully placed throughout Chelsea Barracks (SW1W 8BG), where the public can explore the art among its architecture and public grounds. There is no need to book.
Across his 60-year career, Dale Chihuly has used glass to explore the way form interacts with light and space, creating installations in harmonious dialogue with the environments where they are sited, and inspiring new perceptions of space. [Contemporary Glass Society members can read more about Dale Chihuly in an article in the May 2024 print edition of Glass Network too.]
There are two opportunities to hear more about the exhibition ‘A Fine Line: Modern Makers at Pitzhanger’, which features contemporary pieces inspired by Sir John Soane’s aesthetic and architectural legacy. The exhibition has been curated by glass and ceramics gallery curator Joanna Bird, and is on show at Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in Ealing Green, London W5 5EQ, from 8 May-4 August 2024.
During London Craft Week, visitors to Pitzhanger Manor can book for an evening talk by Joanna and two of her glass exhibitors, cast glass artist Joseph Harrington and Gergory Warren Wilson, a poet and glass artist who uses hand-cut tesserae in multiple layers. This takes place on 16 May from 5pm-7.45pm. For more details and to book, click this link. Alternatively, on 18 May, between noon and 2pm, join Joanna for an informal talk and guided tour of the exhibition (this is free with general admission to the Manor).
Meanwhile, Vessel Gallery will be presenting three rooms of immersive exhibitions at Cromwell Place, on the theme ‘Ethereal Nature’. There will be new works by three of the gallery’s artist-makers: Enemark & Thompson (glass sculpture), Maarten Vrolijk (glass, ceramic, lighting and paintings) and Tsai & Yoshikawa (metal, lighting and mixed media). Admission is free and the show is on from 10am-6pm on 15-18 May and 10am-4pm on 19 May at 4 Cromwell Place, SW7 2JE.
Also at 4 Cromwell Place will be the Korean International Pavilion, presented by Soluna Art Group, featuring works by UK-based glass artist Keeryong Choi and glass artist Kyouhong Lee, alongside others who were also 2023 finalists in the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. These works will be on show in Galleries 5 and 6 at 4 Cromwell Place, SW7 2JE (opening days and hours the same as for Vessel Gallery, above).
There are many other events taking place across the city during London Craft Week. Read the online catalogue here or check out the website: https://londoncraftweek.com for more information.
Image: Detail of one of Dale Chihuly’s installations that will be on show at Chelsea Barracks.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be in a space where you can forget everything, turn off your thoughts and only focus on your senses for a moment? To find a moment of stillness? Opening on 20 April 2024, Bibi Smit aims to achieve this feeling with her latest artwork, ‘Surge’, which will be shown in the Palazzo Mora in Venice, Italy, as part of the collective exhibition ‘Personal Structures’.
‘Surge’ is a site-specific installation that invites the audience to step away from reality as we perceive it. It consists of blown glass sculptures, video projections and sound. Filmed in the area around her studio, each video loop shows fragments of water reflections and fire, creating a subtle, strange and dreamy image. Viewers are invited to experience the alienating feeling of not knowing exactly what they are seeing. As they try to make sense of the shapes, the video morphs into organic elements. The mind turns off thoughts and worries and becomes part of the immersive experience. For a moment, the imaginative space is full of possibilities, colour and movement.
Bibi Smit is known for creating sculptures and installations exploring the patterns and movement of natural phenomena, such as clouds, murmurations and water. She has shown her work in national and international exhibitions since the 1990s. She lives and works in the Netherlands.
This biennial exhibition is hosted by the European Cultural Centre and runs from 20 April 20 to 24 November 2024. It is free to visit and open every day except Tuesdays from 10am to 6pm.
Do you know a UK-based emerging maker worthy of recognition who you would like to nominate for an impressive award?
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is collaborating with international luxury interior furnishings brand Sanderson, to launch a prestigious new prize, the ‘QEST Sanderson Rising Star Craft Award’.
This prize will recognise an emerging talent who is making a positive contribution to their craft, the wider craft sector and community. This person will be a committed maker who has been practising professionally in their craft field for between two and seven years.
It is open to craftspeople across the UK and offers a career-changing cash prize of £25,000.
Makers must be nominated by a credible person – which includes craft industry professionals, tutors, colleagues, peers or others who must know the maker and their work well in a professional capacity.
Please note: nominators can only put forward one candidate for the award.
Nominations close on Friday 17 May 2024 and the winner will be announced in October.
Click here to read the nomination criteria and fill in a nomination form.
Click here to learn more about the Award and the list of judges.
Many of us have seen the popular BBC tv series ‘Make it at Market’, which helps up-and-coming artisans to progress a career in their chosen craft. If you are a UK-based stained glass artist, or another type of glass artist, now is your chance to apply to be selected for the third series of the show.
The BAFTA-nominated BBC1 series follows a select group of amateur makers who are mentored through the practicalities and pitfalls of turning a hobby into a business. The aim is to give the successful applicants the knowledge and opportunity to transform their lives.
The first and second series can be found on BBC iPlayer by searching ‘Make it at Market’, which provides a sense of the tone of the programme. Programme makers Flabbergast TV, say, “It’s very warm-hearted and really shines a light on the brilliant makers, artists and crafts people that are working in the UK today.”
Applicants must be aged 18 or over. For more information and to apply, email MIAM@flabbergast.tv
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