An innovative research and technology centre that will help the global glass industry to create greener, cleaner products has officially opened.
Glass Futures’ £54m Global Centre of Excellence in St Helens, Merseyside, will soon be home to a unique experimental furnace and other technology that will pioneer ways of making carbon neutral glass. The first firing of the 30-tonnes-per-day furnace is planned for early 2024.
Glass Futures is a not-for-profit membership research technology organisation with a mission to demonstrate disruptive technologies and generate new ideas that support sustainability. Its Global Centre of Excellence aims to bridge the Technology Readiness Level gap between research and commercial viability towards implementation.
Speaking at the opening event in June 2023 Richard Katz, CEO of Glass Futures said, “I don’t let go in a hurry and a decade after the idea of Glass Futures was first conceived that dream has come to fruition.
“Removing carbon emissions from global manufacturing is our world’s greatest challenge, and we need to change how we do things. The glass industry and the wider foundation industries (ceramics, steel, metal, chemicals, paper and cement) need to decarbonise, to use energy sustainably and move away from natural gas as their main energy source.”
The event, attended by over 100 guests, brought together Glass Futures members from around the world, including glass manufacturers, university academics, funders and local politicians.
UK industrialist and vice chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Juergen Maier CBE, who was among the first supporters of Glass Futures, said: “We need to create new industries of the future, that’s the only way to ultimately create well paid jobs and prosperity.
“Many years ago, St Helens was innovative in the creation of the float glass process, which today is pretty much the world standard… now we see glass manufacturers like Encirc developing hydrogen-driven glass furnaces.
“These things are really difficult. They need engineering and standardising, and Glass Futures can help them to do that. We’re creating a new glass industry of the future…look around you, you can imagine the prosperity that all of that creates.”
Find out more about Glass Futures via the website.
Image: Attendees at the opening of the Global Centre of Excellence (left to right): Caroline Moore (marketing executive), Aston Fuller (general manager, Glass Futures), Juergen Maier CBE, the Mayor of St Helens Cllr Lynn Clarke, Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, Richard Katz (CEO, Glass Futures), Alanna Halsall (communications, digital and marketing manager at Glass Futures), Mike Biddle (Innovate UK), Dr Nick Kirk (Glass Technology Services) and Brian McMillan (director, Glass Futures).
The Just Glass group’s eighth biennial seminar, ‘Glasscapes: Land and Seascapes in Glass Art’, will feature five internationally renowned glass artists, who will share the art, craft and methods they use to present their individual perspectives of the natural world.
The artists taking part in the seminar, to be held on 28 October 2023, are Claire Hall, Joseph Harrington, Kate Pasvol, Deborah Timperley and Jeff Zimmer.
The meeting will take place at the Brockway Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL.
The day will run from 10.30am to 4.30pm (doors open at 10.15am) and the price is £37.50 (or £31.50 for Just Glass members).
Just Glass was formed in 2003 and comprises over 50 established and emerging artists who were taught at adult education colleges.
Tickets for the seminar are available from Eventbrite via this link.
Image: Joseph Harrington’s ‘Canyon Falls II’. Photo: Sylvain Deleu
Glass artists around the world are invited to submit a piece of kiln-formed glass art to the Glass Prize 2023, run by glass supplier Warm Glass UK.
There are three categories to enter: the Bullseye Glass Artist Prize, the Aspiring Glass Artist Prize, and the Open Glass Artist Prize. The winner of the Bullseye category will receive £1,500-worth of Bullseye glass or accessories, the Aspiring Glass Artist winner will receive a place on an online masterclass and a £100 voucher for class materials or supplies from the Warm Glass website, while the Open Glass Artist prize winner will receive a £100 Warm Glass voucher.
Lani McGregor and Michael Endo of Bullseye Projects return to the professional judging panel alongside 2022 winner Luisa Restrepo. Glass artist Tim Carey will choose this year’s Open Glass Artist winner and the Aspiring Glass Artists winner will be decided by public vote on the Warm Glass UK Facebook page.
Luisa Restrepo won last year’s Bullseye Glass Artists category with her geometric piece, ‘Modular: Obsidian & Graphite’.
Jack Tadd, marketing director at Warm Glass UK, commented, “The competition is really important for us to showcase and inspire kiln-formed glass artists around the world. In 2022, we were proud to exhibit artists from every corner of the globe, including Korea, Mexico and Europe, in our online gallery, all with an astounding variety of work.”
For more information on how to enter, or to view the entries, visit: www.theglassprize.co.uk
The deadline for entry is midday on 15 August 2023, with the winners announced on 12 September 2023.
Image: Luisa Restrepo’s “Modular: Obsidian & Graphite” was the 2022 winner of the Bullseye Glass Artists category.
The seventh edition of the prestigious Loewe Foundation Craft Prize is open for entry. This annual, international award celebrates excellence in craftsmanship and glass artists have made the shortlist in previous years.
The winning entry will be chosen by a jury from the shortlist of 30 artists. These artists’ works will form a finalists’ exhibition in Paris in Spring 2024. The overall winner will receive a €50,000 prize.
The Foundation states that the artwork must: demonstrate artistic intent in addition to technical proficiency; be an original piece, handmade or partly handmade; have been created in the last five years; be one-of-a-kind, and not have won any prizes previously; be innovative, in the sense that it updates tradition, and falls within an area of the applied arts, such as glass, ceramics, bookbinding, enamelwork, jewellery, lacquer, metal, furniture, leather, textiles, paper or wood.
Submissions are open until 25 October 2023.
Find out more details and how to enter via this link.
Image: A selection of artworks from the last Craft Prize shortlist.
The Glass Art Society (GAS) has announced the publication of the 2023 Saxe Emerging Artist catalogue online, which features the glass work of Geoffrey Bowton, Scout Cartagena and Hoseok Youn.
Established by US-based glass collectors Dorothy and the late George Saxe, this award recognises the achievement of artists with fewer than five years of experience in glass.
The Saxe Emerging Artists are nominated by academics, curators and peers, with the final selection conducted by a panel. This year, Tanda Francis, Namita Wiggers, Jessica Jane Julius, and Mathieu Grodet selected the Saxe Emerging Artist awardees.
Explore the diverse work of these three artists in the GAS 2023 Saxe Emerging Artist catalogue via this link.
Image: The 2023 Saxe Emerging Artist Awardees (left to right) Geoffrey Bowton, Scout Cartagena and Hoseok Youn. Photo: Leia Guo
The Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) is delighted to be collaborating again with The World of Glass to present a members-only exhibition this autumn. The show will take place in the museum’s recently upgraded exhibition space.
The World of Glass is located in St Helens in the north-west of England and the exhibition is open to all CGS members at any stage of their careers, but with a special emphasis on those artists located in the North. If you are not yet a member and would like to apply for this opportunity, why not join here?
The exhibition will run from Saturday 30 September to Friday 17 November 2023.
The World of Glass is dedicated to the local history of the Merseyside area, seen primarily through the lens of the glass industry. It was founded in 2000 and presents an amalgamation of the former Pilkington Glass and St Helens Borough Council collections. The purpose-built premises was constructed adjacent to the Pilkington’s glassworks and the stretch of the St Helens Canal known as the ‘Hotties’. There are glassblowing demonstrations and visitors can see the Victorian furnace and tunnels built in 1887 by William Windle Pilkington.
There is no theme to the CGS exhibition, but it will celebrate the diversity of contemporary glass and a broad range of techniques. All work submitted must be for sale. Wall pieces and plinth-based work are welcome.
Artists can submit up to three pieces of work for consideration. The museum will select the artworks to be included in the exhibition.
Glass artist and engraver Alison Kinnaird’s installation ‘War Memorial’ is now on exhibition in the public area of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. It will be on show there for six months.
Alison states that this artwork was inspired by her hearing the names of battles being fought in Ukraine and thinking of all the names of wars and conflicts throughout the world and throughout history.
“No area seems untouched, and no lessons seem to be learned. Any viewer of the piece is likely to find names relevant to their own country. The child in the centre is symbolic of the fact that war does not just affect the military, but also that there is a child within each individual soldier,” she explains. “Glass seemed the perfect medium in which to represent the fragility of life in time of war.”
In addition, Alison’s open studio Festival Fringe solo exhibition ‘Art in Glass’, will be open in Shillinghill, Temple, for the month of August 2023 (10am – 5pm). Address: Fringe Venue 244, Shillinghill Studios, Temple, Midlothian, EH234SH, Scotland. Find out more here.
Artist Dori Settles is drawn to textures in her work and celebrates people’s unique stories in her recreations of their footwear in her latest pâte de verre glass series. Linda Banks finds out more.
What led you to start working with glass? What glass techniques have you used and which do you prefer?
I began my art practice as a craftsperson, recycling fabric from thrift store finds into purses and other utilitarian items. During this time, my husband signed up for blacksmithing classes at a local cooperative and I found a class that focused on creating artworks with scrap fabric. Not long after, I began taking lampworking classes with another artist in the building, mainly to make glass beads and buttons for my fibre art. I dabbled in fusing on my own.
‘Goldie & Han’ (2012), cotton & glass beads.
What really hooked me into glass was taking a class called Fabric of Glass with Lisa Becker (US) at our local glass shop. In the class, I cast a pair of baby overalls, but my mind started to whirr with the possibilities of combining quilting and glass. From there, I took more workshops to advance my techniques and find my ‘glass voice’. My cast work would be vastly different today if it weren’t for artist-instructors Mark Abildgaard, Evelyn Gottschall-Baker, Alicia Lomné and Carol Milne.
‘Jan’s Quilt’ (2016). This is a detail image of open-back cast glass created from an original crazy quilt made by Jan Bergman.
What is your creative approach?
I appreciate the skill and practice behind realism. When I look at objects I think, ‘How can I create this in glass?’ Sometimes – or more like rarely – I sketch. Most often, I jump in and give it a go. I get bored easily, which is why I no longer do production work. Once I’ve successfully created the glass object, I move on to something new, which could be something as simple as changing the colour, repositioning parts, or adding inclusions. At other times, it means finding a new object to challenge me.
Last year, when I started on the ‘Shoes: Storytellers of our Lives’ series, for which I set a goal of making 52 shoes, I initially cast only the uppers. I’d change colours, move laces into different positions, or add mica for different effects. I was happy to receive a variety of shoes from around the US to try to work out different styles. Then a friend gave me her favorite shoes and commented how cool the soles were. Not only did they pose a unique challenge, because they were covered in glitter, but now I needed to figure out how to create the shoe with the sole. This is the type of challenge I enjoy most. I started working out soles and glitter effect with the piles of shoes I had until I felt comfortable recreating her shoes (see main feature image).
What inspires your work? What message(s) do you want to convey through your art?
I am deeply connected to texture. One of the reasons I create most of my work using pâte de verre is because of the way the glass feels as I move my hand across it.
The other reason I work in glass, and especially pâte de verre, is because glass is like people. Glass is both resilient and vulnerable. It alternates between transparency and opacity and can be simultaneously revealing and concealing. Whether I am recreating a natural object or a man-made object, my goal is the same. I want the viewer to see and feel the details and the unique stories that the objects hold.
Dori Settles holding a pâte de verre Royal Paulownia leaf (2018).‘Dog Ate My Slipper’, (2022), pâte de verre, was Dori’s first attempt at making a slipper. Photo: Ivaylo Gueorgiev.‘Laundered’, (2022), pâte de verre. The second attempt at making a slipper. Photo: Ivaylo Gueorgiev.‘Sliced’, (2022), pâte de verre. Dori finally achieved the slipper design. Photo: Ivaylo Gueorgiev.
Do you have a career highlight?
I am excited to announce that the complete collection of Shoes: Storytellers of our Lives will be making a debut at the Waterworks Visual Art Center in North Carolina this September 2023. There will be over 55 shoes on display, some pairs, and many individual shoes. Each has its own story.
Part of the Shoe Collection, pâte de verre, various sizes.
Where is your glass practice heading next?
As I conclude the creation of shoes, I am exploring the use of recycled glass with pâte de verre and transitioning my studio to an all-recycled-glass set-up as my ‘new glass’ supply dwindles.
I am also returning to teaching. Prior to 2020, I was teaching from my studio. In addition to the dealing with the pandemic, we moved from the middle of the US to the East Coast. I was planning to teach before now, but I found I needed to devote my energy and space to the shoes. This autumn I will be opening my studio to students.
What advice would you give to someone starting out on a career in glass?
Glass requires patience. Spend time understanding the fundamentals – even if you live in a remote area, there are amazing online resources, such as the Tech Tips on the Bullseye Glass website.
You have all the knowledge you need. This may seem contrary to the first bits of advice. Taking a lot of classes is a distraction from the real work. Get in the studio. Make work. And when you hit the technical brick wall, then it’s time to take a class.
Approach classes with the mindset of, ‘What do I want to learn from this class? And, why?’ For example, I am blown away by Carol Milne’s knitted glass sculptures. I had some ideas how I might use the technique (which I have not done in four years), but the number one reason I took her class was to learn how to divest such highly intricate cast pieces. I learned so much more than that!
Make good notes and take photos. The biggest mistake I’ve made over the last 12-plus years of working with glass is thinking I’d remember what I did, or that I wouldn’t return to a project. Now, when I look back at my lack of notes, I realise that I am repeating a lot of the same effort or, worse, forgetting what I learned from what worked and what didn’t work in the past.
Work in progress on ‘Woman’s Work’, involving assembling parts to form the shoe.‘Woman’s Work’, (2022), pâte de verre. Photo: Ivaylo Gueorgiev.
Find your tribe. Working as an independent studio artist can be challenging, technically and spiritually. One of the most rewarding parts of my practice is a monthly Zoom call with fellow glass artists across North America. We started meeting as a virtual residency during the pandemic. We support each other’s practice, talk about goals, techniques, business concerns, provide honest critiques and even share our personal lives. These glass friends are incredibly important to me and they make my art practice, and my life, much richer.
About the artist
Dori Settles was born and grew up in southeastern Wisconsin in the US. The Arts were instilled early on, with piano lessons and children’s art classes. During high school she first encountered American Sign Language (ASL) through the movie Children of a Lesser God. She was immediately drawn to the language and studied ASL, becoming a certified sign language interpreter.
Her experience as a sign language interpreter plays a large role in her view of the world. Having worked in a variety of settings with people of differing backgrounds, including Deaf-Blind people, she finds herself paying close attention to space and the tactile aspects of the objects around her.
Today, Dori finds much of her inspiration in the forest surrounding her home and studio in North Carolina.
See Dori’s work processes in this video and read the stories behind her cast shoes on her website: https://dorisettles.com
Main feature image: A pair of pâte de verre shoes from Dori’s latest series, entitled ‘My Ruby Slippers’.
For the first time in five years Australia’s Sabbia Gallery is hosting an exhibition by Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott called ‘Relate/Animate’ this August.
With an exhibiting career of over 33 years together, and their last show in 2018, Relate/Animate comprises a body of new artworks that draws on a deep understanding of the nature of glass and the markings that can be made to the surface.
As the gallery notes, many artists have found the last few years challenging and Kathy’s words will speak to many:
“Not every exhibition of our work has a story, but this small grouping does. During COVID we lost connection to our work, me more than Ben, but I saw this shift towards the end of 2020.
Because we have hand skills and can harness our ideas we pushed on. Keeping busy was the order of the day and I think we were content to just have a focus.
“What became clear over time was that the work was not meaningful to us, we had lost our way. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but this was unexpected. In late 2021 I listened to a series of podcasts made by Lisa Cahill from the Australian Design Centre and cried with relief when I listened to Jeff Mincham talk about mid-life dry spells in a creative life. I was so thankful to hear Jeff talk about his experience with this landscape so openly. It gave me a perspective I needed reminding of.
“I needed to trace back and find the last time I felt connected to the work. I found that time and picked up a thread of what I wanted to continue to explore. My other intention was to try and learn something new from each piece. The show is called Relate/Animate because I knew we needed to relate to the work before we could animate the exhibition one piece at a time. Still themes of water, more rocks are coming in. For me they signify the necessary strength we draw on as we face the constant flow of life. The rocks, more than the water, draw my attention these days.”
Relate/Animate will be on show at Sabbia Gallery from 5-26 August 2023. It is open Tuesday – Friday 11am to 6pm and Saturday 11am to 4pm.
Sabbia Gallery is at: Ground Floor, 609 Elizabeth Street, Redfern, NSW 2016, Australia. Website: www.sabbiagallery.com
Image: ‘Billow’ by Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott comprises blown glass and wheel carving. Photo: Greg Piper.
Scotland’s North Lands Creative has announced that it is postponing its summer course programme.
In a message to friends and colleagues, the organisation states:
“Like many organisations, North Lands Creative has faced some significant challenges in the last few years. The ripple effects of the pandemic, recruitment challenges (particularly in a rural area), the energy crisis and the subsequent funding crisis have created a creeping, negative toll on our programming and, most importantly, on the wellbeing of our people. As such, due to the extenuating circumstances we find ourselves placed in, the Board of Directors has taken the hard decision to pause this year’s summer programme and cancel the forthcoming scheduled professional classes. Our community classes will run as scheduled until the end of this month [July].
“We know this will come as a huge disappointment to those of you planning to travel and participate and will cause concern for those of you who hold North Lands in your hearts and minds. To those individuals who have registered for classes, we will be in touch with you to organise a refund of fees immediately. To our instructors, we really hope that you will join us again at a later date, to deliver the classes exactly as you envisioned.
“However, though our professional programme is to be temporarily paused, we are not stopping. North Lands has, since its establishment, striven to be a place of learning, community, development and a source of inspiration; behind the scenes, both the board and staff will be dedicating themselves to safeguarding this vision and making North Lands a place we are proud to invite our guests into once again.
“Thank you for your understanding, your patience and the support that so many of you have offered – we hope to be taking many of you up on this in a more practical way very soon. We wholeheartedly acknowledge the importance that North Lands holds for many and look forward to welcoming you all once again to Lybster in the near future.”
North Lands Creative is based in Lybster, Caithness, Scotland.
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