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Japan’s triennial Toyama International Glass Exhibition is inviting submissions for the 2024 event, which will take place from 13 July to 14 October at the Toyama Glass Art Museum.

The event is an international, open-submission exhibition that showcases outstanding works in contemporary glass art from around the world that contribute to the advancement of glass art.

It is open to all, regardless of nationality or age and there is no application fee.

All work submitted must be primarily composed of glass.

The application period is open until 10 November 2023.

Prizes (paid net of tax):

Grand Prize JPY 3,000,000 (1 work)

Gold Prize JPY 1,000,000 (1 work)

Silver Prize JPY 300,000 (2 works)

Jury’s Prize JPY 100,000 (5 works)

It is a condition of the exhibition that the works awarded the Grand Prize or Gold Prize must be donated to the Toyama Glass Art Museum.

The judging panel comprises: Amy Schwartz (director of The Studio at The Corning Museum of Glass), Uta Klotz (editor-in-chief, Neues Glas – New Glass: art & architecture magazine), Zhang Lin (founder, director and executive CEO of Shanghai Museum of Glass), Shima Atsuhiko (director of the National Museum of Art, Osaka) and Tsuchida Ruriko (director of Toyama Glass Art Museum).

The first round of judging will take place in January 2024 and will be based on images submitted. The panel will select 50 works for the exhibition.

The second round will take place on 18 and 19 April 2024, where the judges will choose the nine prize winners from the actual works. The decisions of the panel will be announced on the website in early June 2024.

For more details and a link to the entry form click here.

Toyama Glass Art Museum is at 5-1 Nishicho, Toyama City, Toyama 930-0062, Japan.

Seven glass artists are participating in the ‘Behold’ exhibition at S12 Gallery, Norway, curated by Kari Håkonsen and Vidar Koksvik, which is on until 19 November 2023.

The two artists are showing their work alongside Cathrine Maske, Eirin Bjørsland Hansen, Julie Shirani Kausland, Karen Klim and Peter Sutton.

The foundation of Kari Håkonsen and Vidar Koksvik’s practice is blown, craft glass, where the material’s inherent properties also play a central role. Acquiring and developing technical skills has been a key element in expressing themselves as artists.

While the American glass artist Harvey Littleton said in the 1960s that “Technique is cheap”, he believed that an artist was freer when technique did not get in the way. For Kari and Vidar it has been the opposite; technique has made them free to say what they want with the material. In this exhibition, they have invited artists with the same approach to their art.

‘Behold’ shows works that ‘retain’ something in different ways, whether it is the shape of a vessel, interpretations of an original function or objects that utilise the glass’s abilities to play with light and colour. What all the artists have in common is that they are eager to know their material to the full and to investigate the possibilities of glass. However, at the same time, they want to investigate what potential lies in something as basic as a corpus, jar, vessel or other container.

Although all the works relate to retaining in different ways, the expressions are many and varied. Cathrine Maske’s latest series ‘Glasslaboratoriet’ combines blown, freehand shaped glass and found glass elements from the chemical industry. The translucent glass sculptures contrast with the exquisite colour gradation in Eirin Bjørsland Hansen’s ‘Phoenix’, which the curators describe as both a masterpiece and eye candy. Peter Sutton’s glass work is often part of an architectural context where the glass adds colour to the light and plays with light and shadow. For this exhibition, he has made a new, site-specific wall work, based on the vessel shape, as part of his residency in S12.

‘Behold’ is a continuation of the exhibition project ‘I & We’, which was shown in S12 in 2022, BWA Wroclaw, Poland 2023 and Rona Gallery, Lednicke Rovne, Slovakia 2023, and continues to build on S12’s desire to showcase Norwegian glass art.

S12 Gallery is at Bontelabo 2, 5003 Bergen, Norway. Website: https://www.s12.no/en/

The sixteenth annual ‘Glasshaus’ exhibition takes place at Parndon Mill in Essex, UK, from 28 September to 3 November 2023.

This year’s exhibition has been curated by four glass artists who have studios at Parndon Mill and who have over 100 years of glassmaking practice between them. They are Margery Lovatt, Yuki Kokai, Jon Lewis and Ewa Wawrysniak.

The curators have invited artists who have inspired, collaborated or converged with them on their own career journeys, and will exhibit beside them. The show will feature a variety of interpretations, imitations, repetitions and reflections in glass.

Glasshaus has become an exciting and anticipated event at Parndon Mill with a reputation to equal many prestigious glass art exhibitions in the presentation and quality of work shown.

Exhibitors include Karen Browning, Clare Cleary, Katharine Coleman MBE, Yuki Kokai, James Lethbridge, Jon Lewis, Margery Lovatt, Yoshiko Okada, Colin Reid, John Reyntiens MBE, Layne Rowe and Ewa Wawrzyniak.

Over the years, Parndon Mill has showcased many inspirational artists in its annual glass exhibition.

The Parndon Mill Gallery is situated in a former flour mill on the picturesque River Stort, located 20 miles from London and accessible by train from Liverpool Street Station in just 30 minutes.

Parndon Mill is at Elizabeth Way, Harlow, Essex CM20 2HP. Website:  www.parndonmill.co.uk

Image: A selection of artworks on show at the 2023 ‘Glasshaus’ exhibition.

Three new exhibitions are opening at the National Glass Centre (NGC). These are Glass World, The Bernard Lloyd Collection and Hassina Khan.

Glass World is on from 14 October 2023 to 10 March 2024 in the NGC Gallery. It features artworks from its permanent collection of international studio glass by artists from, or based in, 30 different countries, from Sweden to New Zealand and the United States to Japan.

The substantial Bernard Lloyd Collection was donated to the NGC in 2022. This exhibition presents selected works from the collection, highlighting internationalism through the different styles and techniques in studio glass adopted by artists working in different countries at different times. It is on show in the Collection and Balcony Gallery from 16 September 2023 to 10 March 2024.

Another exhibition taking place from 16 September 2023 to 10 March 2024 showcases work by Hassina Khan. She completed her MA in Glass at the University of Sunderland in 2022 and returned for a residency with the NGC in 2023, funded by the Glass Society.

Hassina uses glass to express English words written in Urdu text, mimicking her experience as a bi-racial, English-Pakistani person. An example of Hassina’s new work has been acquired by the NGC adding to the international remit of its collection.

The exhibitions are free to enter.

National Glass Centre (NGC) is at Liberty Way, Sunderland, SR6 0GL, UK. Find out more via the website.

Image: ‘Metamorphosis 45’ (2001) byPeter Bremers, is in the Glass World exhibition. Presented by Hans and Nicola Eggerstedt, with Art Fund support. Photo: David Williams.

Sofia in Bulgaria hosts the country’s fourth International Biennale of Glass (IBG) between 6 October and 3 December 2023.

The event presents a mix of exhibitions in three different venues in Sophia, alongside a rich programme of expert glass artist showcases and lectures. Its aim is to provide a global platform for artists from around the world.

The judging panel for this year’s biennale selected the work of 222 established and emerging artists from 562 applications, who submitted glass art on the theme ‘Together’. The successful applicants hail from 48 countries across five continents.

The works will be displayed in the National Gallery Kvadrat 500, the Sredets Gallery of the Ministry of Culture and the UniArt Gallery of New Bulgarian University.

Since the biennale’s launch in 2017, some participants have donated their works to the IBG. These are then featured in exhibitions held between the biennial editions. This expanding collection has prompted the art director of the biennale, associate professor Konstantin Valchev and its executive director Lyubomira Valcheva-Nundloll PhD to organise a permanent exhibition in Tryavna, Bulgaria. This initiative, set to launch imminently, will grant year-round accessibility to the captivating world of glass art, aligning with the project’s primary mission of popularising this art form in Bulgaria.

Once again, the National Gallery Kvadrat 500 will host the main IBG exhibition. Its expansive space and abundant natural light provide an ideal setting for the glass artworks.

The work of eminent glass maestros, such as the revered Czech duo Stanislav Libenský (1921-2002) and Jaroslava Brychtová (1924-2020), mentors and friends of Valchev, plus Václav Cigler, will grace the halls of Kvadrat 500. Alongside these pieces will be a showcase of glass art by distinguished Dutch artists, facilitated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sofia and curated by Han de Kluijver of the international jury.

Italian (Murano) glass artists will be present again thanks to the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia. The globally acclaimed Lucio Bubacco, known for his extravagant rococo-inspired sculptures, and the skilled jeweller Caterina Zucchi will grace the biennale with their artistry.

In addition, the Czech glass manufacturer Bomma will showcase the winning entries from its annual Glass Cutting World Cup (GCWC), held in Světlá nad Sázavou, Czech Republic.

Complementing the showcase at Kvadrat 500 will be a programme of lectures on 6 and 7 October 2023, featuring esteemed international guests and close affiliates of the biennale. Among them will be Karen Browning and Jon Lewis from the UK.

A further component of the biennale is a travelling exhibition of Hungarian glass masters at the Sredets Gallery of the Ministry of Culture, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary. Curated by Rita Halasi, the exhibition, entitled

‘Glassification.hu’, will showcase abstract sculptures by 10 glass designers known for their pioneering techniques in glass transformation.

The Sredets gallery will also host a presentation by Marta Edőcs on 19 October, complemented by her exquisite glass jewellery and small sculptures. The exhibition will run from 17 October until 3 November 2023.

The third biennale location, the UniArt Gallery, will hold a collaborative exhibition of work by new glass artists, entitled ‘The Beginning’. It will feature pieces by students at New Bulgarian University (NBU) and the Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey, curated by Prof Mustafa Ağatekin, head of the glass department at Anadolu University, and Monika Naydenova PhD, head of the glass atelier at NBU. This exhibition runs from 31 October to 30 November 2023.

For those unable to attend in person, the IBG Connect virtual platform offers a digital window into the highlights of the biennale, ensuring global access to the event.

For a detailed schedule of events and further information, visit the website.

The US Tianaderrah Foundation supports the initiatives of the IBG.

Image: The three locations of the International Biennale of Glass in Bulgaria.