Eddy Bennett has brought his skills in signwriting to reverse glass gilding, combining Victorian techniques with his pop art style. Linda Banks finds out more.
You were previously a signwriter. What led you to start working with glass?
I absolutely loved being a signwriter. It was incredibly fulfilling and there’s something very special about being in a trade where you are using a craft to make a living. All you need is a pencil and brush (plus the willingness to be up a ladder mid-January on the coldest day of the year!). However, in 2015, I discovered the art of reverse glass gilding and how I could transcribe these signwriting techniques into mirror making. I became obsessed very quickly and didn’t look back! I first discovered the craft when the work of David Adrian Smith MBE popped up online. It instantly struck a chord with me and I knew that this was the direction for me. There’s something incredible and unique about the way glass and gold amalgamate with one another and the variations in what can be achieved are astonishing.
Many textures and techniques are combined to create Eddy’s fine work.
What glass techniques have you used and which do you prefer?
There are many ways to work with glass when it comes to reverse glass gilding, all of which are processes and techniques that were invented in the Victorian Era. It’s quite remarkable to think that they were producing these high-end artworks on a mass production level in the sign making industry, with teams of the best artists and craftsmen imaginable.
The most popular ways of working with glass in this field are acid etching, glue chipping, brilliant cutting, scalloping, French embossing and slumping, as well as various gilding techniques. I have been lucky enough to try and experiment with all of these, but I tend to stick with a select few, namely acid etching and water/oil gilding.
I use acid etching on most of my pieces and it is my all-time favourite, although it requires lots of safety measures! The method requires a hydrofluoric acid solution mixed with mica flakes, which produces a beautiful, stippled emboss on the glass. Once gilded, the result is a very sparkly, gold texture that adds real depth and texture to a piece.
Water gilding is the most popular process when it comes to using gold leaf on glass. By using a gelatine and deionised water solution, you apply the leaf to the glass methodically. It dries to form a brilliant mirror finish – something that fascinates me every time I do it … What is it about real gold that just attracts the human eye and captivates our hearts?!
Traditional techniques are combined with a contemporary point of view.
What is your creative approach? Do you draw your ideas out or dive straight in with the materials?
Everything starts with a pencil and paper. I’ve never much been a fan of (or been very capable of) using computers or software for drafting out ideas or preliminary sketches. I have several small notebooks that are full of ideas for new artworks. These always start with a phrase, quote or a particular word that gets me thinking. These pop into my head randomly throughout the day, so I need a notebook close by to write them down before I forget! Once I have that inspiration in place, I begin to draft up a pencil drawing of potential compositions and letterforms, which will then be transferred onto the glass by hand painting it in reverse.
Eddy’s illustration and signwriting skills lend themselves to reverse glass gilding.
What message(s) do you want to convey through your art?
Most of my work focuses on positivity and is a little tongue-in-cheek, enabling the admirer to interpret it how they wish. It’s amazing to hear how each person relates to a particular phrase, usually from a previously memory or happy time in their lives.
I also like to convey the fact that true craftsmanship isn’t a thing of a bygone era. We live in such a fast-paced world, where everything is achieved by the click of a button, so it’s nice to show skills that have been passed down by previous generations and can be appreciated today like they were many years ago. By using these Victorian techniques and putting a contemporary twist on them, I like to think that I’m reviving the old craft into a modern day art form.
A close up of ‘Labour Of Love’, one of Eddy’s popular designs. See the full design at the end of this article.
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
There are many little tools that make up my arsenal of equipment. Without a doubt the most important ones are the signwriting sable-haired brushes, which produce consistent and beautiful brush strokes, and the gilders tip, which allows you to pick up the leaf and apply it to the glass in a precise and deliberate manner. However, my favourite is just a stick…but not any ordinary stick… It’s called a mahl stick. It’s a tool that is mainly used by signwriters, giving them the ability to rest their hand for balance stability to perform accurate lines. I have just received a new one made by a friend out in Colorado, US, which has been hand-turned on a lathe using several precious woods. It’s a work of art in itself!
Eddy’s mahl stick in action.
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
My favourite so far is my newest piece, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’. I started it back in February and only finished it in September 2023, so it took hundreds of hours to complete. It has many processes incorporated into it, which took lots of planning and careful deliberation.
The first job was to acid etch the glass, then slump it in a kiln (with the help and knowledge of David Smith) to bend the glass into a lovely convex profile. I then cut the glass on a stone wheel (brilliant cutting) to make a little ‘puntie’ in the centre of the piece, before gilding with various carats of gold, from 12ct white gold up to 24ct yellow gold. With each new artwork I make, I try to push the boundaries on the predecessor, so I’m constantly learning and improving my skills. This piece has done just that!
The scale of his favourite work ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ can be seen in this photo with the artist.
Where do you show and sell your work?
My work is sold through various art galleries that represent and showcase my work and, alongside that, I release some originals and limited edition prints on my website too. I would say half of my work comes through commissioned pieces from all over the world, but mostly the UK and US. Currently, there is an eight-month wait on commissions, so they are taking priority at the moment.
The allure of gold has resulted in a long commission list for Eddy.
What advice would you give to someone starting out on a creative career?
The obvious thing to start with would be follow your true passion, in whatever art practice that is. Originally my dream was to work as a freelance Illustrator, but I struggled after graduating from university and couldn’t find the right path for my ‘style’. I eventually found my calling, which was typography and signwriting, and from there it was just pure persistence and hard work.
I would recommend using social media as your gateway. It’s a completely free marketing tool, which acts as your portfolio and provides access to most people who can help you get to where you need to be. I suggest using outreach to contact the right clientele. Be persistent as they often won’t come to you! It won’t happen overnight, either, but if you are serious and committed, it will happen. Good things come to those who wait (and burn the candle at both ends).
Do you have a career highlight?
For me, it’s the times when an original artwork is snapped up by a collector, or a print release sells out instantly. These occasions mean the most to me really. I will always be grateful that people value my work.
A close-up showing the great level of detail in Eddy’s designs.
Where is your practice heading next?
The next big destination is actually going to be Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Washington, US. They have invited me to be a guest instructor next year, so if you wanted to learn reverse glass gilding and signwriting with me, that’s your chance!
About the artist
Eddy Bennett with his piece ‘Labour of Love’.
Eddy Bennett is a contemporary artist working predominantly with glass and gold, currently residing in Brighton, UK. His work is praised for its intricate and ornamental aesthetic, which brings traditional, Victorian signwriting and gilding techniques into a modern day art piece. Eddy has gained an international following in the art world by mastering the ability to paint the perfect line by hand. Inspired by antique ephemera and the lettering styles of the late 19th century, Eddy pairs both pictorials and typography into harmonious compositions that evoke traditional advertising and the punchy pop art aesthetic in one.
The Contemporary Glass Society’s Glass Network print magazine issue 83 (November 2023) is on its way to members, so look out for it arriving through your door.
Alongside the magazine, you’ll find a copy of the New Graduate Review, showcasing the best of the emerging talent coming out of British and Irish universities and colleges.
Fittingly, Glass Network #83 has an educational theme, too. Glass artists like Adam Aaronson share the development of their careers and discuss the mentors who inspired and supported them, as well as how they have passed on their knowledge to up-and-coming artists in their turn.
We also highlight the stained glass work of Jonathan Cooke, plus his involvement with the new apprenticeship programme launching at University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD) with Swansea College of Art as the approved training provider.
Another avenue for learning glass techniques is via adult education. Many people take their first steps in glass this way and some go on to make successful careers as a result. The Just Glass artists’ collective was launched by students and tutors from the Richmond Art College course who wanted to hold exhibitions and seminars. Chair Jane Vincent explains the benefits of adult education courses and how Just Glass has evolved.
Glass artist Bob Peckitt describes how he chose to work creatively after discovering that his great-great-great grandfather was William Peckitt, who painted the stained glass windows at York Minster. Read more about William’s life and work in Bob’s article.
Of course, sometimes lack of funding for courses and training can inhibit a career in glass. This is where the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) can provide grants to help. QEST’s communications manager Laura McKee highlights how the organisation has assisted glass artists to expand their knowledge and take part in prestigious exhibitions.
Hungarian glass designer Zsuzanna Deak outlines her journey with glass, which has led her to experiment with using architectural glass waste and sludge to make recycled glass.
Meanwhile, glass collector Mark Halford reviews the facilities at the recently refurbished The World of Glass in St Helen’s, including the Holford Collection, representing a third of his pieces, that he has presented on permanent loan.
Once you have read all these features, remember to check your envelope for the CGS fundraising raffle tickets, with the chance to win one of 13 glass artworks.
Glass Network is sent to members of CGS twice a year. If you would like to receive a copy, why not become a member?
After reviewing more than 200 proposals for presentations, the Glass Art Society (GAS) team has put together a programme of thought-provoking lectures, cutting-edge demonstrations and lecmos, plus exciting special events for its Berlin, Germany, event (15-18 May 2024). Registration opens on 13 November 2023.
“We are excited to host the GAS Conference in Berlin,” said GAS Executive Director Brandi P Clark. “This year’s theme is Where Art and Design Meet, and no city exemplifies that quite like Berlin. As GAS continues to expand its international engagement, we felt it was really important to host the 2024 conference in Europe.”
“To give our community more opportunities to connect organically while enjoying the conference, we are including interactive programming daily during a new midday pause in the schedule,” said Jennifer Hand, GAS conference manager. “Each day will have its own theme, including education and glass institutions, self-care and mental health, and career and small business development.” Additionally, there will be child-centred programming for attendees who bring their families along.
There are 50+ presentations lined up, including: The Lathe Riders, an international cold working team; Jahday Ford will combine ancient Roman blow mould techniques with contemporary technology like water-jet cutting in the hot shop; Silvia Levenson will deliver this year’s Littleton Lecture, musing on her career as a socially-engaged maker focusing on refugees, women and war, plus Ivan Bestari Minar Pradipta will demonstrate how he creates sculptural forms at the torch using recycled glass, no annealers and minimal equipment.
Important dates:
13 November Conference registration, call for exhibitions, scholarship applications and GAS Market booth registration open
1 December Last guaranteed day to book your room at the official conference hotel
12 January Early bird registration closes
4 February Call for exhibitions closes
11 February Scholarship applications close, work exchange registration closes
1 April GAS Market booth registration closes
1 May Online registration closes (but you can still register on-site in Berlin).
A new exhibition at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, US, features the work of contemporary Black artists who have used glass to deconstruct and interrogate social, cultural, gender and racial identity constructs.
‘A Two-Way Mirror: Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists’, is on view until Autumn 2024. The artists range in background from African American, to British, to Puerto Rican, each using glass to reflect thoughts and bodies that have historically been exploited. Due to its reflectivity and translucence, glass is an apt medium to interrogate identity constructs, such as the theory of double consciousness presented by W.E.B. Dubois in his work, The Souls of Black Folk.
Exhibition curator Jabari Owens-Bailey commented, “I proposed this exhibition because I wanted to see what artists of colour were already doing in the medium and what they had the potential to say. I found the medium to be so rich for exploring personal identity, and it provides the opportunity to look at oneself. So, I looked for myself in the medium of glass and I found A Two-Way Mirror.”
Glass art has been largely inaccessible for historically marginalised groups. This has been, in large part, due to racial oppression, the cost of production,and the class division between artist and artisan. It is the museum’s hope that ‘A Two-Way Mirror’ will create a space in which to explore this inequity and offer works by artists of African descent, which tell the artists’ own stories.
Many of the pieces in the exhibition are abstract, while others are representational. Each of the exhibiting artists uses glass as a proxy for a body, portrait, mental state, or historical trope. Dubois’ idea of double consciousness is explored as the glass functions as a metaphorical structure for that which is both seen and unseen.
Artists include Anthony Amoako-Attah, Radcliffe Bailey, Layo Bright, Crystal Z Campbell, Chris Day, Cheryl Derricotte, Alejandro Guzman, Mildred Howard, Jason McDonald, Parfums de Vigny, Ebony G Patterson, Pellatt & Green, Related Tactics, Salviati and Company, Joyce J Scott, Shikeith, Therman Statom, Renée Stout, Barbara Earl Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Leo Tecosky, Kara Walker and Fred Wilson.
Day, Bailey, Scott, Statom, Stout, Tecosky and Wilson participated in the Museum’s Visiting Artist Residency programme and several works exhibited in this show were created in the hot shop.
Learn more about ‘A Two-Way Mirror’ via this link.
The Museum of Glass is at 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma, WA 98402, US.
Image: ‘Adebisi I’ (left) and ‘Adebisi VII’, by Nigerian Layo Bright. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
A new collection of glass work by Louis Thompson is on display at Vessel Gallery in London. Inspired by bonsai, ‘Enchanted Mori’ echoes this ancient horticultural practice and its artistic intention to create a higher level of aesthetic refinement.
With each posing the question ‘what is your preferred time of day?’, the works symbolise the transient periods that make up each 24-hour time frame. Inviting the viewer to contemplate and reflect, Thompson’s ambition is that, alongside the visual, an emotive response is experienced.
He states, “With the transition of light, day falls into night and we pass into the abyss of a new dawn. The sun, moon and stars form shadows, colouring our perception and creating an interplay between the negative and positive forms of nature, where harmony and balance coexist. This new body of work, Enchanted Mori, is for moments of contemplation, reflection and contentment.”
Louis Thompson has exhibited extensively in the UK, Europe, US and Japan. In 2012 he received two prestigious awards in the UK: British Glass Biennale Winner and the Jerwood Foundation Makers Commission.
He has created installations for museums and international exhibitions and his work is held in permanent museum collections in Belgium, Germany, Japan, Czech Republic, the US and the V&A in London.
He has completed international residencies at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, US, The Glazenhuis Museum in Belgium and most recently at Soneva Art Glass in the Maldives.
The ‘Enchanted Mori’ collection is on display until 17 November 2023
A one-day symposium exploring the shared culture and heritage that exists between Scotland and Japan through the medium of cut crystal will take place on Friday 8 December 2023.
This ‘Edo-Kiriko’ event is led by Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in partnership with the Horiguchi-Kiriko glass studio, based in Tokyo, Japan. The studio specialises in Edo-Kiriko, a traditional type of Japanese cut crystal.
The symposium, to be held at ECA in Scotland, will host a range of speakers, a live demonstration of glass cutting (with an object handling session) and an object showcase at ECA. This event revolves around the internationally famed Japanese glass master Toru Horiguchi. The symposium hopes to trigger debate and discourse around the lost art of crystal cutting in the UK and act as a catalyst for a new material cultural exchange between Scotland and Japan.
The project is driven by the historical glassmaking connections between these two countries, drawing upon a joint history that dates to the 1870s-1880s, when three glassmakers from Scotland helped the Japanese modernise their glass industry.
The speakers include Toru Horiguchi, glass historians Sally Hadden and Dr Jill Turnbull, social historian Professor Aaron William Moore, glass engraver Alison Kinnaird, glass designer and educator Dr Jessamy Kelly and Chris Blade, CEO of Cumbria Crystal.
The Edo-Kiriko symposium takes place from 9.30am to 5pm, followed by drinks from 5.30-7.30pm. It is free to attend but ticketed.
Location: West Court, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF, Scotland.
Following the announcement in January 2023 that the iconic National Glass Centre (NGC) in Sunderland cannot continue in its present venue because it needs expensive remedial structural work, campaigners have been working to get support to keep the NGC in its current riverside location.
The University of Sunderland has owned the NGC since 2010 and wants to find an alternative venue – or venues – for the NGC. The Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art (NGCA) and the University’s glass and ceramics academic programmes are also housed on the site.
Current courses are continuing as usual and the University stated in January that it hoped to transfer to a new location – or locations – within three years.
Campaigner Caroline Basing is an MA graduate of the University, who has a studio space at the NGC. She states, “The NGC offers so many different levels of experiences in glass for so many different people, from exhibitions to public engagement, such as bauble making, to making facilities for international artists. While some efforts are being made by Sunderland Council and Sunderland Culture to split and relocate some parts of the organisation, no guarantees have been made to retain any of the many and varied functions of the NGC. Its loss will collapse the whole creative ecosystem that surrounds it, causing economic, educational, cultural and societal damage, not just to the local area, but also the creative industries based on making in glass.”
A petition to raise awareness and keep the NGC and its facilities in the present building has now reached almost 32,000 signatures. Anyone interested in finding out more and signing the petition can follow this link.
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.
For the third year, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung foundation will award up to 10 scholarships to participate in a workshop at the International Summer Academy at Bild-Werk Frauenau in Germany, in 2024.
The scholarships are €2,200 each and will be awarded to artists who have graduated from an art academy or completed their artistic training at a glass school or technical college within the last five years. There is no age restriction.
The workshops in Frauenau are led by internationally renowned artists and enable the fellows to expand their professional knowledge and develop artistically. The focus is on working with hot and cold glass, complemented by traditional and new design methods.
The scholarship enables the artists to experiment with glass and to develop and realise their own designs within the framework of the course.
Bild-Werk Frauenau is located in the Bavarian Forest and is one of the most important international forums for glass and visual arts.
The 2024 Summer Academy programme will be published on the Bild-Werk Frauenau website on 13 November 2023.
Application deadline is 26 November 2023 and applicants will be informed whether they have been awarded a scholarship by 24 December 2023. Successful applicants must register for a course directly with Bild-Werk Frauenau by 14 February 2024.
The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung promotes art and science. It was established in 2000 by the entrepreneur Alexander Tutsek and his wife Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek as a non-profit foundation.
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