A monumental optical glass, mirror and wood sculpture has gone on display at Glass Futures in St Helens, Merseyside, UK, for the duration of 2024.
The sculpture, entitled ‘New Perspective’, was made by Richard Jackson and Sally Fawkes and is on show with a selection of their smaller works.
The inception of New Perspective was an exhibition entitled ‘Reflection’ held at Salisbury Cathedral in 2016. That show, curated by Jacquiline Cresswell, challenged the selected artists to respond to the context of the cathedral and its 900-year history.
Sally and Richard were inspired by:
The technological advancements made at the time of the building of Salisbury Cathedral, which began in 1220
The skill of the craftspeople employed whose marks can be seen and touched in the fabric of the building
The cathedral’s place as a centre of inclusive reflection and its adaption to societal changes over the centuries.
The sculpture takes the form of two glass columns, each marked with its own history and language, linked by a path of mirror, like a path of light. Reflections and refractions displace and multiply new images in new settings, showing new paths, new lines of sight and new points of view. A new perspective is opened out among the old.
A view of New Perspective showing the full piece. Photo: Sally Fawkes.
New Perspective symbolically projects the vision of Glass Futures of expanding possibilities through inspiration, exploration, curiosity and imagination, paving the way to change for the better. For this reason, New Perspective was chosen to take centre stage in the reception atrium of Glass Futures.
Glass Futures has a 165,000 sq ft, state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary glass melting facility, the Global Centre of Excellence, which will be capable of producing up to 30 tonnes of glass per day in a specially designed and purpose-built experimental furnace.
Glass Futures is a not-for-profit membership organisation created by the glass industry for the future benefit of society. It connects the global glass industry with academia to demonstrate innovative technologies through research and development that will make glass and other materials zero carbon for a sustainable future, enabled by glass.
The installation was arranged by leading glass collector and member of Glass Futures’ Membership Council, Mark Holford. A total of 75 pieces of his collection are on exhibition at The World of Glass, located five minutes’ walk from Glass Futures.
There is no doubt that Simon Moore is driven in everything he does. Having built his first wood-fired pottery kiln at age 14 to running a thriving glass studio today, his unerring commitment to creating production glass for businesses is the foundation of his success. However, he worries that students today are not able to benefit from the sort of educational and training mix that was the basis of his career. Linda Banks finds out more.
Simon Moore describes himself as a “production handmade glassmaker”. He is proud of this title, which he believes encompasses his hard-won skills of repetitive making, building accuracy and speed, which have enabled him to found and maintain a sound and profitable business. His aim is never to have products sitting on his shelf unsold.
Though Simon went to art school, he deliberately does not call himself an artist, as he does not believe this term justifies his broader abilities. In fact, he took a year out of formal education to train at the Glasshouse in Long Acre, Covent Garden, in 1979.
As experienced glassblowers know, it takes time to learn the basics and the ‘haptic’ knowledge necessary to be proficient in glassmaking. He recognised that hard work would be needed if he wanted to make a successful career with glass. He comments, “I had just enough skill, but, importantly, the right aptitude to gain more. I often worked 14 hours a day and was paid £45 per week.”
‘Still Life with Balustrades’ (2014). The plate is 500mm diameter.
Simon knew that he had to be totally committed to learn this trade through working long days, learning how to fill the furnace and seeing how a workshop runs. He also benefitted from training in the exacting skills of making the same piece over and over again, watching the talented glassblowers there, especially gaffer Ronnie Wilkinson, of Whitefriars fame.
Simon glassmaking at the Kvetna factory in the Czech Republic in 2017, working with old optic moulds found in the basement.
When he was a student at the then West Surrey College of Art and Design (now UCA Farnham), Simon acknowledges that he was fortunate to be immersed in an atmosphere of keenness to make, surrounded by workshops for ceramics, metalwork and jewellery for inspiration and with the support of tutors like Annette Meech, Ray Flavell and Stephen Procter.
Plate and vase with black and white dots (2006). Vase 400mm tall and plate 500mm. Photo: Ester Segarra.
However, he believes that colleges today are not investing in the teaching of glassmaking so that students can leave with enough ability to work in the real world. He says, “The colleges are teaching what they perceive as art because they describe themselves as art schools. They are not looking for students with aptitude. Nor are they looking for students with talent and ambition, either. For them I think it’s all about getting ‘bums on seats’. The job of an educator is to extend the student, to understand ambition and help the student achieve it, but I don’t feel this is happening now.
“I myself taught at art school for many years and loved it. But I became increasingly aware that courses were teaching not how to make an idea happen, but how to think about how it happens. If you have a good idea and can’t make it yourself then you use glass makers like James Maskrey or Louis Thompson. But as we all get older, where will the next generation of glass masters come from?
“What makes me anxious today is the lack of decent glassmaking assistants. They are just not out there any more. Glass making needs a physical, hands-on approach. Yes, every object needs a good idea driving it and of course the intellectual side is important, but there also has to be a physical, hands-on approach. I’d much rather be able to manufacture that idea and create income than just write about it. The academic approach over the last few years is stifling physical making.
“I became disillusioned with teaching when I was told that we could not fail anyone; that was the end for me. My 37 years of experience in the field and ability to recognise real aptitude for a career in glassmaking – or lack of it – apparently counted for nothing. The world of academia is so different to the world of professional and commercial practice.”
‘Balustrade Triptych’ – tallest 850mm. Hand cut and bonded glass. Photo: Ester Segarra.
Following on from his intensive work experience and subsequent employment at the Glasshouse, Simon proceeded to co-found the Glassworks studio with Steven Newell and Catherine Hough, in order to produce innovative glassware.
For him, it has always been about the ability to make the same item to the same high standard and precision, over and over again, that has appealed, and he is proud that he can make the same decanter for a client today that he made five years ago.
Over the course of his career Simon has travelled and worked abroad extensively, feeding his knowledge and building influential contacts. “To be a good glassmaker, you have to keep learning all the time,” he emphasises.
However, he does not see the drive necessary for success in many students graduating today. “They don’t have the patience or the 100% commitment required. They really have to want to do it and understand the level of dedication it takes to learn. You can lead a horse to water but can you make it drink? In their turn, the students must keep the pressure on the colleges to give them access and practise their skills with commitment – a couple of hours a week is not enough!
“The colleges need to be more rigorous in choosing students with the right attitude and aptitude – and then give them enough access to the hot shop to practice and fail and learn from their mistakes. There needs to be much more careers advice and discussion of business methods, preparing students for the real world. It is up to the students to demand a return on their £9,000-a-year investment if they don’t feel they are getting value for money from their courses.”
Simon’s own determination to be successful in the glass world led him to take on design directorships at Salviati in Murano and Dartington Crystal in Devon, before setting up his own workshop in London. His studio has made chandelier arms for the Palace of Versailles and glasses for Bombay Sapphire, plus he has collaborated with Anish Kapoor and Nicole Farhi to make handcrafted collections.
Three-stripe bowl and vase with decorated centres, created using the Venetian incalmo technique to join the sections. These sell very well in the US.
So, does he think the contemporary glass scene is still viable? Simon says he still has hope: “I think we still have just enough resources to rekindle some parts of a derelict tradition. We live in cycles; we reinvent. It’s time for the teaching of craft to be reinvented. Let’s get back to making. We need one very good handmade glass course that sets the standard.”
He concludes, “I just want students today to have the opportunities that I did.”
Main image: Simon Moore making a large ‘Grid Vase’ at the Kings Cross workshop.
Simon has opened the debate on glass education and welcomes your thoughts, whether you are an educator, student or someone who appreciates contemporary glass. Email us with your views via: editor@cgs.org.uk
Glass master Mark Angus is holding a solo exhibition of glass, painting, collage, print and text at the District Gallery at Neuburg Castle in Germany.
Open now until 3 April 2024, the show is entitled, ‘80 Capriccios und anddere Verstörungen’ (literal translation: ‘80 capriccios and other disturbances’).
In his installation ‘80 Capriccios’, Angus used glass and lyrical text to illuminate an insecure and sacred present-day self. He now continues this path at Neuburg am Inn Castle. This new exhibition presents a representative part of the ‘Capriccios’ body of work created in 2018 and leads on from it. From soul-searching, fear and experiencing crises, Angus expands his view of the ‘other disorders’ experienced by people today.
The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm at Landkreisgalerie auf Schloss Neuburg, Am Burgberg 2, 94127 Neuburg am Inn, Germany.
The application process is open for the eighth edition of The Venice Glass Week, which will take place around Venice, Mestre and Murano in Italy from 14 to 22 September 2024.
Applications are invited from any organisation, institution, company or individual, from Italy or abroad, who would like to propose an event or project relating to artistic glass. Candidates can propose to organise their own independent event or project as part of the festival – including exhibitions, installations, conferences, workshops, guided tours, family activities and more – or they can apply to exhibit within The Venice Glass Week HUB or The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35 (for artists aged 35 or under).
The two HUBs are hosted by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Palazzo Loredan, located in Campo Stefano, in the heart of Venice.
The Venice Glass Week HUB is situated in the magnificent first floor galleries and will feature a series of installations of glass artworks by artists and designers aged 36 and over.
The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35 is situated in the ground floor galleries of Palazzo Loredan and will host a series of glass artworks by artists and designers aged 18-35.
All exhibitors within the HUB Under35 will be considered for the Autonoma Residency Prize, which will enable the winner to undertake a two-month artistic residency at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, US, in 2025.
Participation in the festival is free, but participants are responsible for all costs relating to the planning and realisation of their individual events and projects (eg transportation and installation of artworks, insurance, hire of venue if relevant).
HUB exhibitors are responsible for all costs relating to the production of their works, transportation to and from the venue, installation and de-installation, plus insurance of their works while in transit and on-site.
Read the conditions of entry via this link before applying using the online application form, which will be evaluated by the festival’s Curatorial Committee.
The deadline for applications is Monday 8 April 2024.
The Venice Glass Week was established in 2017 to celebrate and promote the art of glass. The festival is promoted by Comune di Venezia and organised by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, LE STANZE DEL VETRO – Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and Consorzio Promovetro Murano.
Discover the rich cultural tapestry of Oaxaca in Mexico with the Glass Art Society (GAS) this autumn.
One of Mexico’s most culturally rich regions, Oaxaca is known for its long tradition of producing world-class crafts, mezcal, mole, and chocolate – all of which will be explored during this week-long adventure from 25 September to 2 October 2024.
And to satisfy the more glassy side, the group will visit local studios and explore environmentally friendly practices being pioneered in Oaxaca and enjoy hands-on activities. There will also be a personal tour of the exhibition at Centro Cultural San Pablo during the second Bienal Internacional de Arte en Vidrio de Iberoamérico.
This exclusive adventure is limited to 30 attendees and we are delighted to announce that Contemporary Glass Society members can enjoy GAS member pricing until 1 June 2024.
Prices for GAS and CGS members are: US$3,597 per person double occupancy or US$4,542 per person single occupancy.
Non-members: US$3,957 per person double occupancy or US$4,996 per person single occupancy.
The price includes tour, city travel, hotel, lunches, dinners and all admission fees for planned activities. Airfare is not included.
For booking at member rates, contact Julie Thompson at julie@glassart.org. For more details, visit https://bit.ly/3pq6QES.
From 15-17 March 2024 Salem Community College in the US will host the 22nd International Flameworking Conference (IFC).
This three-day event promotes excellence in flameworking through artist demonstrations and scholarly presentations. The weekend attracts glass artists and enthusiasts from around the US and the world.
In 2024, the conference will continue its core mission of education, the promotion of the techniques and its practitioners.
Featured artist this year is Mathieu Grodet, who is joined by eight demonstrating flameworking practitioners who will show off their skills over the weekend. They are Shayla Windstar Behrman, Ivan Bestari Minar Pradipta, Lilla Tabasso, Paul Stankard, Rocko Belloso, Joy Munshower, Kyle Meyer and Elliott Todd.
The weekend includes a film screening, presentations, demonstrations, exhibits, and seller displays.
On the Friday evening, curator, speaker and advocate for artists, Susie Silbert will present the keynote address, followed by a screening of filmmaker Dan Collins’ latest documentary, entitled ‘Paul Stankard: Flower & Flame’. NB Paul is one of the contributors to the upcoming May 2024 edition of the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) Glass Network print magazine, which is sent to all members of CGS.
Find out more details of the programme and register for the IFC via this link.
Salem Community College’s Glass Education Center is at: 460 Hollywood Avenue, Carneys Point, NJ 08069, US.
Image: Work by Mathieu Grodet, the 2024 Featured Artist at the conference.
An exhibition of kiln-formed glass by 14 makers will be presented in Leicestershire in March.
The show is called ‘Nature in Glass’ and has been organised by the UK Glass Art Collective – a newly formed group of 14 glass artists from around the UK who met while exhibiting in Bristol in 2023.
This first joint show will be held at Coalville C.A.N., opening on Thursday 14 March 2024 and running until Sunday 24 March 2024 (10am to 4pm daily), with free entry.
On 13 March there will be an artist talk at 6pm, plus there will be have-a-go fused glass workshops on offer on 16 and 17 March at 10.30am and 1.30pm with Carla Harris-Marsh. Email carla@harris-marsh.com for details of costs and booking information.
Artists exhibiting include: Rosalind Beattie, Suzanne Bunce, Mandy Capel, Alex Compton, Rachel Craig, Fabio di Gregorio, Rachael Durkan, Jacqueline Erhahon, Claire Fernig, Angela Gunter, Carla Harris-Marsh, Rachel Nuttall, Heather Russell and Katrina Shearlaw.
Coalville C.A.N. is a community enterprise where makers, volunteers and community groups work in partnership for the good of the local community.
Coalville C.A.N. is at Memorial Square, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3TU, UK. Website: www.coalvillecan.coop
The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass has announced the names of its 12 residency recipients for 2024.
The programmes include Artists-in-Residence; the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) Residency; the Instructor Collaborative Residency; the Burke Residency; the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists, plus the David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars.
The five-week-long Studio residencies aim to empower artists to explore new directions in their work. The research residencies have been awarded to artists and scholars to provide time and resources for in-depth, scholarly research using the collections of The Rakow Research Library and the Museum, plus access to expert staff.
The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass, in partnership with The Museum of Art and Design (MAD), introduced the biennial Burke Residency in 2020. This residency enables one non-glass artist from the Burke Prize exhibition at MAD to use the glassmaking facilities and resources at The Studio to further their artistic exploration. Santa Fe-based multi-media artist Brie Ruais will undertake the 2024 Burke Residency from 18 November to 13 December.
Residents will benefit from use of the new Wendell Weeks & Kim Frock Residency Center, which is part of a major facility and programme expansion set for completion in late 2024. The Residency Center features seven fully equipped studios surrounding a light-filled lounge.
2024 Residency recipients are:
Alli Hoag (Ohio, US) David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists 18-29 March 2024 Alli Hoag is a Toledo-based artist and researcher who works across the mediums of glass, installation, video, performance, and digital technology. She plans to investigate the Rakow Research Library’s extensive collection of Blaschka notebooks and explore the Museum’s Blaschka glass specimens to find source material for transforming microscopic two-dimensional images and surfaces into three-dimensional forms.
Birgit Maixner (Trondheim, Norway) David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars 8-26 April 2024 Birgit Maixner is an archaeologist who specialises in the Northern European Viking Age and material culture of that era. She will use the Rakow Research Library and the Museum’s collections and exhibitions to further her research into Viking-period Middle Eastern mosaic glass beads.
Joe Stadolnik (Illinois, US) David Whitehouse Research Residency for Scholars 17-28 June 2024 Joe Stadolnik studies medieval English literature and its interaction with natural sciences like astronomy, medicine and alchemy. He will research into two medieval manuscript books in the Rakow Research Library, which combine alchemical reading material with more practical glassmaking texts.
Fatma Çiftçi (Bilecik, Turkey) David Whitehouse Research Residency for Artists 8-19 July 2024 Fatma Çiftçi is a Turkish artist and scholar currently pursuing a PhD in fine arts and glass at Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey. She will explore The Rakow Research Library’s collection, focusing on the use of lustre-painted glass techniques and tracing the existence of lustre-glass technology in medieval stained glass.
Peadar Lamb (Cork, Ireland) and Debbie Dawson (Cork, Ireland) Instructor Collaborative Residency 9-20 September 2024 Award-winning Irish glass artists Peadar Lamb and Debbie Dawson will work together to explore different methodologies for working with glass. They plan to combine traditional stained glass painting techniques with contemporary processes, firing photographic transfers on to a range of coloured and float glass as they explore historic themes including the connection between Irish people and the Native American Choctaw Nation.
Catie Newell (Michigan, US) Artist-in-Residence 16 September-18 October 2024 Trained as an architect and fabricator, Catie Newell will focus on developing a series of kiln castings, relying on geometry, thickness and colour to emphasise the difference between light transmittance and absorption, drawing inspiration from the Museum’s collection and The Rakow Research Library.
Ross A Delano (New York, US) Artist-in-Residence 23 September-25 October 2024 Corning-based artist Ross Delano has been a glassmaker and instructor at The Studio for more than a decade. He will use The Studio’s resources to create handmade glass lighting based on his love of the sky, aviation and space.
Percy Echols II (Pennsylvania, US) Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) Residency 23 September-25 October 2024 Percy Echols II is a Pittsburgh-based artist, alchemist, and educator at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. He is also the creator and host of the podcast Taming Lightning, a series of conversations exploring plasma and neon light, the focus of his work. During his residency, he proposes to extend his practice using the hot shop for glassblowing, layering colours, fire polishing and assembly; the cold shop for engraving and finishing, and the kiln room for electrode fusing and complicated assembly. He will be among the first visiting artists to work in The Studio’s new Neon Shop.
Jason MacDonald (California, US) Artist-in-Residence 28 October–29 November 2024 Jason McDonald has a passion for historical Venetian glassmaking and uses these techniques to speak about the barriers that BIPOC people face in accessing creative spaces. During his 2024 residency he will develop a new body of work that combines glassblowing, pattern-making, fusing, coldworking and hot-casting to create inclusions.
Runa Kosogawa (Takayama, Japan) Artist-in-Residence 28 October-29 November 2024 Runa Kosogawa is a Japanese artist whose work is inspired by the small things and events she observes in everyday life, which are easily taken for granted. During her residency she will continue her work creating monochromatic black flowers to direct attention to the lives of people who have been neglected by history. She will also extend her Weaving Life Project 2021 by blowing a series of 40 glass balloons of Pyrex glass, each engraved with the date and place of their creation and suspended by hand-dyed silk threads made with local wild plants.
The Corning Museum of Glass is at One Museum Way, Corning, NY 14830, US. Website: https://home.cmog.org
Image: The new lounge facilities at the Wendell Weeks & Kim Frock Residency Center.
Remember that applications are now open for the last British Glass Biennale to be organised by the Ruskin Mill Land Trust at The Glasshouse in Stourbridge, before the Glass Art Society takes over for the 2026 event.
The deadline has been extended to midnight on 3 March 2024.
The British Glass Biennale is the foremost juried exhibition of excellence in contemporary glass by artists, designers and craftspeople working in the UK and British artists working abroad. It is the flagship exhibition within the International Festival of Glass.
The British Glass Biennale 2024 is open to artists, designers, craftspeople and students working in all areas of contemporary glass practice or using glass as a key design element. The emphasis is on new work demonstrating the highest level of excellence in design, creative imagination and technical skill.
Applicants must:
have been living and working in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the last two consecutive years; or
be living, working or studying abroad but possess a British passport and have previously lived in the UK for a minimum of 15 years; or
be studying on glass arts course in the UK.
Each artist can submit up to three pieces for consideration. Each piece must be predominantly made of glass but can incorporate other materials. The work must have been made since 1 March 2022 and all work selected for display must be for sale. A range of prizes will be awarded.
Prizes:
British Glass Biennale Award for Best in Show
Glass Sellers’ Arts and Crafts Awards – Main and Runner Up
Glass Sellers’ Student Awards – Main and Runner Up
NEW: Bullseye Living Edge Award
The Glass Arts Society International Artists’ Prize
NEW: Glass Painters and Glaziers Award
The Guild of Glass Engravers Award
People’s Prize sponsored by Warm Glass
Young Collectors’ Award sponsored by The Glass Sellers.
The application fee is £15 (or £10 for a student).
The jury comprises: Martin Donlin (architectural glass artist); Candice-Elena Greer (chair) (curator); Nadania Idriss (vice chair of the Glass Art Society and chair of Berlin Glas e.V.); Annie Warburton (writer and specialist in craft and design, CEO at Cockpit Arts); Tanya Raabe-Webber (artist, consultant, mentor), and Matt Durran (curator).
The British Glass Biennale opens on 23 August 2024 and closes on 28 September 2024.
Address: British Glass Biennale, The Glasshouse, Wollaston Road, Amblecote, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 4HF.
Artists are invited to submit their proposals on the theme of ‘Water and Fire’ to participate in the international sculpture event ‘The Enchanted Garden 2024’, held in Jodoigne, Belgium. The outdoor exhibition and sale of work integrates sculptures with other artistic expressions, such as poetry, music, dance and theatre.
A book of poems with photographs of the sculptures will form the event catalogue.
During the summer of 2024, ‘The Enchanted Garden’ will take place for the eleventh time in a structured, natural sculpture garden, promising water, contrasts and surprises galore.
The venue is located in Belgium, on the language border between Jodoigne, Hoegaarden and Tienen; halfway between Brussels, Liège and Namur and on the ‘RAVEL’ cycle path connecting Leuven, Tienen, Hoegaarden, Jodoigne and Namur.
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