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The US Museum of Glass is showing ‘She Bends: Redefining Neon Legacy’, an exhibition exploring the evolution of neon.

Opening on 11 February and on view until October 2023, ‘She Bends: Redefining Neon Legacy’ explores the evolution of neon teaching methods in this traditionally male-dominated art form, and the transition of the medium from advertising and commercial signage to fine art.

The exhibition is curated by the organisation She Bends, led by co-owners Meryl Pataky and Kelsey Issel. She Bends aims to push the boundaries of neon and is dedicated to building a more equitable future for the art form through public education, curatorial projects, and artist programmes.

“We want to tell neon’s story, and the stories of those who use it in their art,” explained Meryl Pataky. “We want to change the narrative around neon and show that the process is becoming more personal for the artists. The process can be just as interesting as the finished product. It can be magical, and there are so many stories that can be told. And, by supporting and celebrating the artists who are making new and challenging work, we can help continue this story responsibly.”

In addition to the process of neon and the importance of women and gender-expansive artists in the medium’s history, the Museum of Glass says visitors will learn about the intersection between art and science, the commercial history of the material, and its emergence as a more personal art form. Much of the exhibited work is not only a response to neon’s commercial origins, but an exploration of themes of cultural identity, healing, or political activism. Additionally, since neon is a ‘master/apprentice’ craft, the exhibition’s curators are focused on how neon skills are passed on and how the material’s legacy evolves to become younger and more diverse.

Katie Buckingham, Museum of Glass Curator, said, “Neon is an outstanding example of what makes glass art so special – a ubiquitous material that transforms in the hands of artists. I am excited for our visitors to see neon, a pervasive material for signage, through the eyes of the electrifying artists of She Bends.”

Exhibiting artists include Sarah Blood, Carissa Grace, Kacie Lees, Stephanie Sara Lifshutz, Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez, Meryl Pataky, Lily Reeves, Daniella Thach and Jude Abu Zaineh.

An opening celebration will be held on 11 February, with Family Day hands-on neon activities, exhibition tours, and demonstrations. An evening RSVP-only reception will follow.

Neon Demonstrations:

11-12 February: She Bends artists

10-14 May: Visiting artists GFTS (Gas Filling Tube Suckers)

27-29 May: Local neon artists

2-4 September: Local neon artists

11-15 October: Visiting artist Jay Macdonell

In addition, there will be a series of artist talks alongside the exhibition.

The Museum of Glass is a premier contemporary art museum opened in 2002 and dedicated to glass and glassmaking with the West Coast’s largest and most active museum glass studio.

The Museum of Glass is at: 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA. Hours: 10am-5pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Find out more about this event via the website.

Image: The installation ‘A Modern Guilt’ (2020) comprises neon and mixed media and is a collaboration between Meryl Pataky and textile artist Allie Felton. Image courtesy of artist. Photo: Deb Leal.

‘Sift’ is an exhibition of work by six artists, each of whom created work in response to the ancient connections between Wales and Ireland. It opens in Wales on 24 February 2023, before moving to Ireland on 14 April.

The show includes glass work by Linda Norris, photography and cast glass by John Sunderland, mixed media pieces by Sylvia Cullen, and work by Seán Vicary, David Begley and Tracy Breathnach.

Linda Norris’ piece ‘Fragment Dresser’ (Dresel Ddernynnau in Welsh) centres on the domestic dresser – a familiar, iconic piece of furniture, which has pride of place in many homes in both Wales and Ireland. Her ‘virtual dresser’ is created using glass, light and shadow.

Starting from the simple sense of delight afforded by stumbling upon a jewel-like fragment of porcelain in a muddy field, or on a windswept shore, this work explores the sense of connection that is evoked by these small, broken, and often overlooked, fragments of domestic objects.

As part of the development of this work, Linda ran a series of poetry workshops with poet, Emma Baines, during which people in Pembrokeshire and Ireland were encouraged to write poems inspired by sherds they had found. Handwritten fragments of these poems, in Welsh, Irish and English, along with a poem by Welsh poet Menna Elfyn, can be seen in the shadows cast in the work.

Linda explains, “’Fragment Dresser’ explores what is there, and what that reveals of what is no longer there. In essence, the work imaginatively investigates powerful human connections across time and landscapes. These tiny shards provide a portal into other lives and places and journeying there inspires us to reflect on our own.”

‘Fragment Dresser’ was commissioned by Ancient Connections, an EU-funded, cross-border arts, heritage and sustainable tourism project.

‘Sift’ opens in Wales at Oriel y Parc, St David’s SA62 6NW on 24 February and is on until 29 March at this venue (9.30am-5.00pm daily). It then moves to Wexford Council Offices in Ireland (14 April-20 May).

Find out more about ‘Fragment Dresser’ and watch videos of poetry readings from the sherds poetry workshops via this link.

Image: Detail of ‘Fragment Dresser’, appearing in the ‘Sift’ exhibition.

Applications for places at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair (GNCCF), and two complementary online selling events, are open between 1 and 28 February 2023.

The GNCCF is now in its 16^th year and takes place at the iconic Victoria Baths in Manchester from 19-22 October 2023. It is complemented by two digital events – GNCCFonline – in May and December.

The organisers are looking for talented makers – including new and established makers, as well as recent graduates – working in glass, ceramics, jewellery, metal, leather, wood, interior textiles, fashion design and accessories, mixed media, basketmaking, product design, furniture, printmaking and more.

The Victoria Baths event opens with a Private View on the evening of 19 October and is then open to the public from 20 to 22 October. Victoria Baths is located at Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 0FE.

The GNCCFonline digital fairs are also selected selling events, which, the organisers say, “offer an affordable and accessible way to present and market your work under the respected GNCCF brand”. The GNCCFonline Spring Edition takes place from 20-21 May 2023 and the GNCCFonline Christmas Edition takes place on 2-3 December 2023.

Applications are invited from diverse and skilled makers from the UK and abroad, whatever their background or professional qualifications, and applicants from groups that are currently under-represented in the craft sector are particularly encouraged.

In 2023, there will be two free stands available at GNCCF Manchester to makers who have not exhibited at the show before and whose contact address is located in one of Arts Council England’s Levelling Up For Culture Places. Check whether your area is included on the list via this link. Any successful first-time applicant to GNCCF Manchester with an address in one of these areas will be contacted after selection with information about this opportunity.

Interested makers can apply by completing the online application form available on the Great Northern Events website (portal open 1-28 February 2023).

All exhibitors are selected for their excellence by a panel of craft experts, based on their submitted images. Successful applicants will benefit from extensive marketing and promotion and a range of affordable stand packages, including subsidised stands and tabletop/display only options for new and graduate makers. In the event the live event cannot go ahead because of COVID-19 restrictions, full refunds will be given.

GNCCF organiser Great Northern Events is a not-for-profit organisation supported by Arts Council England with public funding from the National Lottery.

Image: The2022 Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at the Victoria Baths, Manchester, UK. Photo: Joel Fildes.

Are you a glass artist working outside the UK? If so, the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) would like to hear from you. We are hosting an online exhibition in March 2023 on the CGS website featuring glass art from overseas. You don’t even need to be a member to participate.

The CGS is the UK’s foremost organisation supporting both established glass artists and up-and-coming makers. Our mission and passion are to promote contemporary glass among the art world and wider public. For us, 2023 is about expanding horizons – looking beyond our natural boundaries and out into the world.

So this is an open call to all non-UK based glass artists to share your work with us for our ‘Expanding Boundaries’ exhibition. We want to learn and understand what glass art is out there, outside our borders.  Join us in an online exhibition exploring and discovering the diversity of the glass world and celebrating our worldwide glass community.

To apply for ‘Expanding Boundaries’ send one image (size not more than 1000 pixels in any direction), labelled with your name and title of work, to cgsweb@hotmail.co.uk and admin@cgs.org.uk . Also write a short description, include any photographer to credit, add the size of the piece and your contact details. All submissions must have been made after 2018.

The deadline to submit your application for consideration is 24 February and the successful entries included in the exhibition will go live on 1 March 2023.

Globe photo: Krzysztof Hepner on Unsplash.

Bristol’s Prior Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of contemporary glass by 25 glass artists, exploring the theme of ‘New Beginnings’ this February.

The exhibitors are based across the UK and have all been mentored by glass artist and business adviser Catherine Dunstan via her professional development online courses. The exhibition offers an opportunity to connect with real stories and experiences of new beginnings through vibrant, modern glass art.

The show features the work of Ros Beattie, Anne Bridgen, Suzanne Bunce, Mandy Capel, Rachel Craig, Catherine Dunstan, Kay Dewey, Rachael Durkan, Angela Eales, Jacquie Erhahon, Mandy Forrester, Claire Fernig, Angela Gunter, Fabio di Gregorio, Carla Harris-Marsh, Rachel Nuttall, Fiona Mclean, Lois Parker, Sue Rossiter, Heather Russell, Imra Shoaib, Katrina Shearlaw, Amy Teasdale, Susanne Werner and Justine Woodley.

New Beginnings takes place at Prior Gallery, in Cabot Circus shopping centre, Bristol, BS1 3BZ, from 25 February to 2 March 2023. It is open 10am-6pm Monday to Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday.

Find out more about Catherine Dunstan’s work via her website.

Image: ‘Entwined Forever’ by Mandy Capel. 

Students and young graduates from the Institute for Ceramic and Glass Art (IKKG) at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences are showing their work in an exhibition at Germany’s European Museum of Modern Glass.

The ‘Double Feature II’ show (19 January to 16 April 2023) is the second of two events featuring a broad spectrum of contemporary trends in art while documenting the versatility of glass as a material and the broad choice of training courses available at IKKG.

The IKKG is believed to be one of the few internationally high-ranking fine art schools to offer talented young people comprehensive artistic training with a focus on contemporary glass sculpture.

The facets of this artistic material are diverse and have yet to be fully explored. Glass holds opportunities for widely differing means of artistic expression and students can develop their skills with the medium through the Free Art Glass course, which has been taught at Höhr-Grenzhausen for 22 years.

IKKG students and graduates often show their work at international exhibitions and win globally-recognised awards.

The European Museum of Modern Glass is at Rosenau 10, 96472 Rödental, Germany. Visit the website for more information.

Image: One of the glass pieces created on the Free Art Glass course.

Sydney’s Sabbia Gallery is hosting ‘Still Alive + Mobile’, a solo exhibition of works by Australian glass master Nick Mount, from 25 January to 18 February 2023.

‘Still Alive + Mobile’ comprises a series of new works that are, his daughter Peta Mount states, “at once energetic and expressive, and intimate and illusive; playful and provocative, and soft and seductive.

“In the long-standing tradition of the Still Life, Nick presents a slice of the everyday. Providing endless opportunity to experiment with the arrangement of elements within a composition, the work tells a story of form and finish, texture and tone, technique and intuition. Functional objects and geometric forms are positioned alongside fruits, both real and imagined. A symbolic reminder of our changing environment, the work is also a reminder that the old can be new again.”

Nick was among the first generation of artists to be introduced to glass in Australia in the early 1970s. He and his partner, Pauline, went on to establish Victoria’s first private hot glass studio and subsequently developed an internationally-renowned arts practice.

Over the years, Nick has participated in countless exhibitions and his work has been acquired by more than 20 public collections internationally, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Palm Springs Art Museum in the US, plus the Toyama Glass Art Museum in Japan.

Working across the fine arts, craft and design, Nick has also worked with an extensive list of clients in the design and production of bespoke commissions, including Rockford Wines, the Park Hyatt in Sydney, and SkyCity Casino in Adelaide. His award-winning Martini Set is in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia and more recently he designed and fabricated the limited edition Penfolds Ampoule.

View more of Nick’s work via this link.

Sabbia Gallery is at 609 Elizabeth Street, Redfern, Sydney, NSW, 2016, Australia. It is open Tuesday-Friday 11am to 6pm, and Saturday 11am to 4pm.

Image: Nick Mount’s ‘Ficifolia: A Still Life #080722’ (2022) is made from blown glass, surface worked, assembled, with huon stems on a charred oak base.

Between 28 January and 2 April 2023 visitors to Norway’s S12 Gallery can see Linda Morell’s mixed media exhibition ‘Oil nebula’.

This installation uses the concept of the abyss – the vast, cosmic sea as described in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667), which separates earth from hell – as a metaphor for societal collapse.

The project draws parallels to the jellification of the oceans, where ecosystems are changing and new organisms thrive.

The exhibition, consisting of works in ceramic, glass, wood and aluminium, strives to mythologise the defamiliarised Earth. S12 states, “The works form a visual language which speaks about the future of the oceans and humanity, whilst forming the inhospitable sea of the abyss itself. Like Milton’s abyss, simultaneously described as the world’s cradle and its grave, the exhibition becomes an ouroboros focusing on both the perils and prospects of the future.”

Linda Morell’s sculptures and installations form speculative futures based on myths, science and medicine. She is known for her minimalistic and sterile expression, where the human body is a recurring theme. In ‘Oil nebula’, Morell has moved towards a new and warmer expression, with more figurative and realistic elements.

Several of the works in ‘Oil nebula’ have been created at the S12 Gallery over the last few years.

Linda Morell holds an MA in contemporary art from The Art Academy in Bergen and a BA in contemporary art from Konsthögskolan i Umeå. In 2020 she was awarded the emerging artist award from Norske Kunsthåndverkere. Her work has been acquired by KODE art museum, Sogn and Fjordane art museum.

S12 Gallery is at Bontelabo 2, 5035 Bergen, Norway.

Find out more about Linda’s work via this link.

Image: One part of the installation, ‘Paradise Lost’ is made from fused Bullseye glass and burnt pine. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen.