Make a note to visit the Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG) this November and December 2023 to see an exhibition of quality contemporary craft and buy your Christmas gifts. ‘Present Makers’ features hand-crafted gift ideas showcasing the talent and innovation of contemporary craftspeople and designer-makers from the South West region of the UK.
This year’s event shines a spotlight on glass through the gallery’s collaboration with the Contemporary Glass Society.
Selected glass artists taking part include: Roberta Ayles, Madeline Bunyan, Catherine Dunstan, Rachael Durkan, Oriel Hicks, Susan Kinley, Ian Palfrey, Steve Robinson, Susan Sinclair, Wendy Wood, Robyn Coetzee, Claire Hall, Maggie Hamlyn Williams, Jane Hester, Susan Purser Hope and Amy Whittingham.
Other crafts represented include jewellery, ceramics, textiles, prints and wood, as well as a range of unique Christmas cards and decorations.
The exhibition and sale of work are on from 11 November until 23 December 2023. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm and admission is free.
THG is an award-winning public art gallery hosting an acclaimed programme of contemporary art and craft exhibitions, alongside a permanent collection of artist Thelma Hulbert’s work.
Thelma Hulbert Gallery is at Elmfield House, Dowell Street, Honiton, Devon EX14 1LX, UK. Website: https://www.thelmahulbert.com
Tracey Sheppard has perfected her glass engraving techniques for over forty years. This experience has kept her skilled work in demand throughout her career, with commissions ranging from small objects to architectural projects. Linda Banks finds out more.
What led you to start working with glass?
I happened upon glass engraving by accident. I was studying for a combined degree in English Literature and Fine Art. My drawing tutor noticed that I was obsessed by small detail and interested in textures and tone. He suggested that I should go to the local Adult Education Centre and join a class where I would learn how to engrave glass. I knew nothing about the medium, but within two weeks I was hooked. The tutor, who became my dear friend and mentor, Josephine Harris was inspirational and unfailingly generous, passing on the skills and insights that she in turn had learned from Peter Dreiser at Morley College. Those classes, in a draughty, breezeblock building in Isleworth, were the beginning of a career which, to date, has lasted 43 years.
Tracey has a completed large-scale commissions for religious buildings, including this entrance screen for St Lawrence’s Church, Winchester. Photo: Nick Carter.
What glass techniques have you used and which do you prefer?
Drill engraving was my introduction to the challenge and delight of working with glass. It remains my first love, but I have also explored the myriad possibilities of sandblasting and acid etching. I have been extremely fortunate, working with two maestros. Sally Scott, friend, colleague and master of sandblast gave me the first glimpse of the scope of her medium. A little later, master craftsman Dave Blackwell patiently taught me how to work with black and foil, hand-cutting stencils and applying embossing black in a painterly way. He has broadened and freed my approach. Mixing the three techniques – drill, sandblast and acid etching – has been a revelation! Very exciting and huge fun.
This piece was made for Holy Cross, Binstead. Here Tracey is painting embossing black resist prior to acid etching.
What is your creative approach? Do you draw your ideas out or dive straight in with the materials?
Drawing is essential. Drawing is what drew me to glass! I think through the whole engraving process while I draw, planning which tools to use for each element of a project. Making mistakes and adjusting or erasing them is best done with a spirit-based pen before committing with the drill. Everything is carefully drafted in great detail.
Tracey draws the design on the glass before starting to etch.
As I draw, my ideas develop and grow. The process of moving the pen across and around a vessel helps me to understand and respond to its shape and adapt my design to fit sympathetically.
I love the process and feel of mark making on the lively surface. It is not entirely predictable, and can be unforgiving, but, treated with patience and a light touch, all kinds of miracles happen. Lines can distort, textures magnify, images reflect and refract. It is so exciting.
Drawing is a vital aspect of Tracey’s practice. Her attention to detail is in evidence in this study of a Geranium Phaeum.
What message(s) do you want to convey through your art?
What message do I want to convey? That is a tricky question, and not one with a straightforward simple answer. I hope that each piece I make is ‘fit for purpose’ – that it celebrates the individual, or the occasion, for which it was commissioned. Or, that it captures something of a subject and my particular way of seeing, perhaps drawing the viewers’ eyes to something they may have overlooked. I hope to create worlds within the glass – places of wonder and magic.
Thie ‘Castle Howard’ design was part of a set presented to 10 Downing Street. Photo: Joe Low.
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
When my parents asked what I would like for my 21st birthday I asked for a Secco pendant motor! For many years it was my absolute favourite thing in the whole world and still hangs at my bench: my talisman! However, after some protest and resistance, I was converted to a micro-motor which is now the permanent extension to my right hand. I have a mass of burrs – stones, diamonds and polishers – in a dazzling array of shapes, sizes and grades. If I had to choose just four to take to a desert island, they would be a small, fine ball diamond, a rat’s tail diamond, a green cone shaped stone and a flexible polishing wheel. I reckon I could entertain myself with those!
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
It is impossible to choose one favourite piece from all my years of engraving. There are, however, a few pivotal ones. The first ‘proper ‘piece I ever engraved was a goblet with ivy trailing around it. It taught me what was possible, and how far I had to go.
The Ivy Goblet was Tracey’s first engraved piece.
It was a huge honour to be commissioned to engrave two panels for the Epiphany Chapel in Winchester Cathedral. The project introduced me to the delights of working with, and for, a committee and how to carefully research and approach designing for an ancient and venerable setting.
A detail of the Epiphany Chapel design at Winchester Cathedral. Photo: Nick Carter.
I have always loved lettering and designing and executing the ‘Benedictus Plate’ just confirmed it as a subject area for future ventures.
Architectural subjects have been a rich vein for me to mine. The challenges of textures, structures and perspective are fascinating and absorbing.
The ‘Sissinghurst Bowl’ is a piece made simply for the joy of engraving, allowed me the opportunity to play with perspective and to endeavour to capture what the late, great John Piper called ‘the spirit of place’.
Tracey at work on the ‘Sissinghurst Bowl’.
Mixing sandblast and drill with acid etching on the doors for All Saints Fulham – the first time I had experimented with this cocktail – was hugely exciting and simply left me wanting more…
Where do you show and sell your work?
I have been fortunate and have worked to commission almost constantly throughout my career. Working with a patron is a fascinating and rewarding process and can lead to challenges and changes of direction in process and technique, design and execution. It is also an exercise in trust and I relish it.
I have exhibited in a variety of places, taking part in all Guild of Glass Engravers National Exhibitions since I joined in 1982, and participated in many Branch shows. My own Open Studio events are an exciting way to exhibit work and immerse visitors in my working environment. I have also shown at the Art Workers’ Guild and in various commercial galleries, particularly Rachel Bebb Contemporary. Any opportunity to exhibit engraved glass and to show what is possible in this wonderful medium should be embraced.
Engraved doors at St Thomas Church, Lymington. Photo: Nick Carter.
What advice would you give to someone starting out on a career in glass?
There are so many different aspects to the world of glass. I am not really qualified to give advice on career paths, but my own experience has been that focusing on a technique and pushing it – not being afraid to meet new challenges head on – has brought me opportunities and stretched me, which is always good. Never say no!
Do you have a career highlight?
Career highlights? Oh, my goodness! I have had such fun! It was wonderful to be made a Fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers and to be elected a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild. In both cases, this was affirmation that I was heading in the right direction. The various architectural projects have been immensely exciting. The commission from the Historic Royal Palaces to make a piece for our late Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, was right up there. And I was utterly thrilled to be awarded Heritage Crafts Maker of the Year 2021.
However, every project is exciting. The moment when I of hand over a completed piece to a patron and receive positive feedback…That is mustard!
Where is your glass practice heading next?
I really enjoy the opportunity to pass on the skills that I have learnt. Teaching, both in the local Adult and Community Learning Centre and at West Dean College is immensely satisfying. Watching beginners grow in confidence, and seeing more accomplished engravers push their own boundaries, is a deeply rewarding experience. It is something which I would like the chance to do more of in the coming years. I believe it is vital to pass on expertise to keep this craft, and so many others, alive.
Where am I going now? I have no idea. The phone might ring, or an email might sail into the Inbox. I just hope to keep on meeting new challenges and opportunities and to continue scratching away.
About the artist
Tracey Sheppard at work. Photo: Michael Butters
Tracey Sheppard began engraving at evening classes in 1980 while studying for her English Literature and Fine Art degree. She was accepted as a Craft Member by the Guild of Glass Engravers in 1982. She was awarded Highly Commended as a First Time Exhibitor in the National Exhibition in 1983, elected Fellow of the Guild Glass Engravers in 1987and served as chairman from 1998 to 2002. She became Guild President in 2013.
Tracey was elected Brother of the Art Workers Guild (AWG) in 1996 and was Master of the AWG in 2021.
She enjoys working on a variety of scales, from small, personal, commemorative and presentation pieces to architectural installations. Her engraving may be seen in a large number of public buildings, private houses and places of worship, including the cathedrals of Winchester, Bristol and Portsmouth, Romsey Abbey and the Minster at Ilminster.
Tracey has a passion for plants and enjoys drawing and engraving botanical subjects. She is also drawn to the challenges of textural variations and perspective in architectural studies.
She was commissioned to engrave carafes, a jug and tumblers as part of a suite of glasses presented by The Glass Engraving Trust to Number 10 Downing Street.
A fascination with lettering design, spaces and flow has led her to produce many works that combine words with imagery. She received the Christopher Russell Lettering Prize, presented at the Guild of Glass Engravers National Exhibitions, in 1998, 2004, 2012 and 2015.
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.
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