Part two of the Joy of Glass exhibition opens in Leeds

Don’t forget to visit the second part of the Joy of Glass exhibition, being held by the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) in partnership with the Craft Centre & Design Gallery in Leeds.

A total of 25 artists are showing their work in the Joy of Glass show. The artists selected for part two, which opened on 11 June 2022, are: Effie Burns, Kate Jones/ Stephen Gillies, Steven Graham, Catherine Mahe, Caroline Moraes, Katherine Park, Verity Pulford, Karen Redmayne, David Reekie, Penny Riley-Smith, Elizabeth Sinkova, and Samantha Yates.

Steven Graham’s stained glass piece, ‘Bee – Golden weave’.

This event is open until 23 July 2022, with contemporary glass presented in the beautiful, Victorian building that houses the Craft Centre & Design Gallery, located close to Leeds city centre.

The show is part of a number of celebratory events this year, with the CGS marking its 25th anniversary and the Craft Centre & Design Gallery reaching 40 years.

David Reekie’s ‘Venus off balance II’.

Florence Hoy, Director of the Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds said, “As it’s a very special anniversary for both of us this year … and it’s the International Year of Glass, we jumped at the chance of this fantastic opportunity to bring some outstanding glass to the city of Leeds, and to give it the spotlight it so rightly deserves.”

Find out more about the artists and view their work here.

The Craft Centre & Design Gallery is at City Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AB. Website: https://www.craftcentreleeds.co.uk

Main feature image: This artwork by Gillies Jones – Stephen Gillies and Kate Jones – who have worked together since 1995, is on display in part two of the Joy of Glass exhibition.

Glass Garden a hit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022

Artist and curator, Gabrielle Argent, is the force behind the creation of The International Year of Glass Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022. Here she reviews highlights from this year’s event.

Unless you have visited the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, you may not understand the appeal. Simply, it’s an international shopfront where 168,000 affluent visitors come to discover beautiful living spaces, sculpture and gardens.

As an aspiring glass sculptor with bucket list goals, Chelsea is top of my list. Extraordinary things happen when you take a leap of faith, and my experience of this event has been 100% positive. I met the right people to collaborate with and had their support from day one.

When I put out the call for participants through the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) in February, I could not have known that life-long friends would be made. I described an ambitious plan of showcasing glass sculptures and these very brave artists stepped forward.

Thanks to Emma Butler-Cole Aiken, Ian Godfrey/Gail Boothman, Anthony McCabe, Lisa Pettibone and Layne Rowe for allowing me to curate their work.

As soon as the artists were on board, my marketing brain kicked into gear. The press releases were written, the logo was created, and the website built. Press packs were sent to the RHS well in advance. The RHS rules, regulations, health and safety and insurance requirements are onerous and challenging. It took two months to get the paperwork needed by the RHS in place, leaving little time to make glass for the event.

A comment from the show manager the day before judging made up for the anxious months of preparation, when she said the display was ‘outstanding’. That was the moment I began to enjoy the experience. An article about us in the Daily Telegraph was a bonus and the private view by the Queen and members of the Royal Family was a highlight.

A highlight was the Queen’s visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in her Platinum Jubilee year.

Emma Butler-Cole Aiken, a stained-glass artist from Selkirk, was the first to install. Her 3-metre high, ‘Sails’ is a majestic piece of art reminiscent of the stunning church windows she is known for. When the sun shone through the panes of blue and green glass, the colours had us spellbound, cameras in hand.

I met glass blower Layne Rowe through a recommendation from Peter Layton of London Glassblowing. His 3-metre high/wide ‘Solace’ angel wings have been shown at two cathedrals – Ely and St Albans – and the installation is destined to be displayed at the British Glass Biennale later this year.

‘Solace’ was a showstopper. Hundreds of visitors wanted to pose as angels, with the hashtag #TheGlassGardenDesign. Many of them purchased a limited edition signed glass feather, a poignant symbol of remembrance and hope. Ryan Harms, Layne’s business associate and maker of the bespoke metal frame, was also on hand with the installation.

Layne Rowe installing ‘Solace’ at the show.

The collection was completed by Lisa Pettibone’s ‘Dune’ and ‘Silver Tongue 4’, Anthony McCabe’s ‘Tulip’, ‘Lily’ and ‘Seed Pod’ Glass Garden series, and Ian Godfrey/Gail Boothman’s ‘Inferno’, ‘Mystic Ocean’ and ‘Life Force’, plus my own pieces.

Additional items by Sunderland BA graduate, Sacha Delabre, and prototypes of glass flowerpots from UCA Farnham university created by Emma Rawson, were also on site or featured on the website. Giving students the chance to be included at Chelsea was always a priority for this project.

We are grateful to TV personality, Andy McConnell, who interviewed our artists for the cameras and added his personal charm and wit to the event.

Glass expert and TV personality Andy McConnell (left) and exhibitor Anthony McCabe.

The day was extraordinary because, as if on cue, John Parker, Professor Emeritus, Glass Science and Engineering at Sheffield University arrived, and Andy interviewed him for Instagram Live about his work to ensure the United Nations’ designation of 2022 as the International Year of Glass.

Matthew Demmon, President of British Glass (left) with Glass Garden organiser and curator, Gabrielle Argent.

We also welcomed the President of British Glass, Matthew Demmon, to our stand and tentatively discussed support for RHS Chelsea 2023.

Supporting the CGS’s 25th anniversary with a glass stand at Chelsea flew the flag for contemporary glass art and demonstrated to a reticent public that glass is safe, sustainable, practical and stunning in an outdoor setting.

By Gabrielle Argent

Read our preview news story and see more images of the glass pieces displayed at the Glass Garden here.

Main image: Several glass artists and styles were represented in the Glass Garden at Chelsea.

UCA Farnham degree show features glass

Three BA(hons) Ceramics and Glass students have their contemporary glass work showcased in the degree show at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Farnham in Surrey.

The show opens on 9 June and runs until 7 July 2022.

The students displaying their work in glass are Shannon Baker, Frankie Leigh and Eleanor Hughes.

Shannon Baker describes her work (main image) as, “A collection of functional glassware considering notions of the uncanny in domesticity, womanhood, and the intrinsic link to ideas of the mother.” She seeks to translate inexplicable thoughts and feelings into the physical realm. Here, hot glass has been shaped and formed using bronze body extensions – tools cast from the maker’s own body – to develop an intimacy with the untouchable hot glass.

Frankie Leigh’s work focuses on the theme of rejuvenation. She has first-hand experience of bush fires in her native Australia and the devastation they inflict on the landscape and natural world. Her blown glass objects are a celebration of new life and the beauty that can emerge after such trauma. Frankie is fascinated by the movement, flow and rhythm of hot glass; the bud-like forms and painterly layers of colour are evocative of flora and fauna rising from the ashes.

‘Rejuvenation’ by Frankie Leigh.

Eleanor Hughes uses the fluid nature of hot glass to pick up shards of coloured and textured broken glass. This results in an object that has pops of colour both within and on the surface. She explains, “My pieces reflect the way I build layers and marks in my sketchbook; a chaos of colour and visual texture.”

‘Mark-making in Glass’ by Eleanor Hughes.

The UCA BA(hons) Glass and Ceramics degree show takes place in Rooms W05 & W04 at University for the Creative Arts, Falkner Rd, Farnham, GU9 7DS. It is on until 7 July from 10am to 4pm daily, (closed Sundays).

Main image: ‘Love as a Homesickness’ by Shannon Baker.

Making connections with history

Kit Paulson looks to the past for inspiration for her flameworked glass creations, which include fantastical headwear and old-style telephones. Linda Banks finds out more.

What led you to start working with glass?

I just kind of fell into it. Furnace working was one of the studio classes that was offered at my undergraduate university and I thought, ‘Hey, what the heck, might as well try it while I’m here’. It turns out that glass is endlessly fascinating and I’m still learning 20 years on.

You have perfected the use of the flameworking technique. Why does this method appeal to you?

There are a lot of great things about flameworking. It’s fairly simple and easy to set up a flameworking studio (particularly in comparison to setting up a hot shop, which is the area of glass I started in) and one can work alone and independently. It appeals to my innate love of small things, but flameworking can also be a good way to make large things out of small, modular parts. Borosilicate glass (the type that I use) is particularly good for this. I like the level of detail I can get with flameworking and how delicate I can make things.

Lace mask made from glass
‘Lace Mask’ by Kit Paulson is an example of her wearable art.

What is your creative approach? Do you draw your ideas out or dive straight in with the materials?

For many pieces I make a working, scale drawing that serves as a template. Often it’s easier to work out problems in a drawing before moving on to the material. But I do leave room for on-the-fly adjustments and additions. So I would say most pieces are about 80% planned and 20% improvised.

A lot of your work features sculptural, wearable glass art, often with a historical theme. What message(s) do you want to convey through this work? 

I like to make objects that look as though they have come from an earlier time, but not from a recognisable, specific time. I create objects that look as if they must have existed but never did. The past is a source of endless inspiration for me. We are so connected with things that happened in the past but sometimes these connections are invisible without a bit of digging. My work is often a form of digging.

Glass cravat
‘Cravat After Grinling Gibbons’ draws on historical references.

What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?

My mini torch is my favourite. It’s a game-changer! It allows me to make incredibly small details and also to build large pieces. It’s a small, handheld torch, so I can use it to draw in three dimensions. I’m not constrained by having to bring my work to a bench torch, as I can bring the torch to the work.

Flameworked glass telephone
‘Telephone’ is an example of how borosilicate glass can be used to create 3D work.

Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?

My favourite piece is usually the last thing I finished. Right now it’s a little piece I finished in Scotland at North Lands Creative that’s based on gothic cathedral architecture.

You teach at venues in the US and farther afield. How does this impact your own glass practice?

I really enjoy technical teaching. This involves breaking down and categorising processes and passing them on to students, who often do interesting things with them. I enjoy getting the chance to solve problems that I would never have come up with on my own. And I enjoy deepening my understanding of the material by explaining it to others. I always come away from teaching experiences with tons of new ideas and I always learn something.

Tiny flowers are a feature of ‘Elderflower Umbel’ by Kit Paulson.

Where do you show and sell your work?

It’s a fairly random game at this point. My larger, sculptural work doesn’t sell very well because it’s delicate and hard to transport. So it’s mostly my smaller production work that actually sells. Therefore, I sell little things on Etsy (kitpaulson.etsy.com) and in regional boutiques. Occasionally I’ll have a larger piece in a gallery show, but most of the work that I really care about is displayed in the gallery of my studio, which is arranged as a sort of Wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities.

Do you have a career highlight?

I was delighted to have a piece acquired last year by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum.

Who or what inspires you?

I am inspired by glass itself, the endless different ways it can be manipulated and by the skill needed to manipulate it successfully. I am inspired by looking at objects from the past, and the way that humans have solved problems and created beauty through the clever use of materials. I am inspired by the dawn of The Age of Reason, when people were creating objects and methods of observation for natural processes.

Flameworked glass lungs
‘Lungs’ demonstrates Kit Paulson’s mastery of the flame working technique for creating delicate details in glass. Photo: Brady Connelly.

Has the coronavirus impacted your practice?

Much of my time before COVID-19 had been spent in teaching, so when it struck I was suddenly at home and alone. This situation pushed me to set up an online outlet for my production work and to develop that work into something people actually want to buy. It gave me a lot of time in the studio that I wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Kit Paulson flameworking at the bench.

About the artist

Kit Paulson received her MFA from Southern Illinois University and her BFA from Alfred University in the USA. She has taught across the US and internationally at schools including Penland School of Craft; Pilchuck Glass School; Corning Museum of Glass; Bildwerk Frauenau, Germany; National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, and Canberra Glassworks in Canberra, Australia. 

She has completed residencies at the S12 Gallery in Bergen, Norway, the Tacoma Museum of Glass, in the US, and, most recently, a three-year residency at Penland School of Craft. 

She has received scholarships from Pilchuck Glass School, Corning Museum of Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Center, The Windgate Foundation and the Glass Art Society. 

Her work has been published in New Glass Review editions 36, 37, 38 and 41 and is in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum. 

She is currently a studio artist in Penland, North Carolina, USA.

Find out more via her website: https://kitpaulsonglass.com or Instagram: @kitpaulson 

Main feature image: ‘Ivory, Coral, Blood and Bone’, flame worked by Kit Paulson. Photo: Brady Connelly.

What’s in the next CGS Glass Network print magazine?

Kirsteen Aubrey, editor of the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) print magazine, Glass Network, outlines some of the features members will see in the upcoming special 25th anniversary edition.

As is fitting in the CGS’s 25th year, in this 80th issue of Glass Network, Susan Purser Hope, our Chair, provides a timeline and the rationale behind the birth of CGS, outlining its objectives and many achievements as we celebrate our silver anniversary in 2022.

Her article reminisces on the early days of studio glass in the UK, from the establishment of British Artists in Glass (BAG) – the first organisation in the country to support professional glass artists and students in the 1970s – through to the launch of the CGS in the 1990s and beyond. Numerous glass artists involved with CGS offer their reflections.

In addition, this edition features artists working with diverse approaches to glass and a variety of techniques. One thing they have in common is that all are inspired by the transparency, colour and wonder of glass.

David Traub introduces his colourful glass, produced in New Zealand, and Lisa Pettibone explains how her work is destined for outer space!

Dominic Fonde explores illustrations and reflections that motivate his latest glasswork, while Cherisse Appleby explains how she uses UV-sensitive glass to produce scientific creative tools that aid understanding of health and wellbeing.

There are many glass exhibitions taking place in celebration of this special year – too many to mention here – but we focus on Chris Bird-Jones as shares her recent work, exhibited earlier this year.

The Glass Network print magazine is sent to all members of CGS twice a year as part of the membership package. Why not join our over 1,100 members in the UK and overseas and secure your copy? Read about the benefits and join here.

Image: ‘Unfurled’, (2020), by David Traub. Photo: Leigh Mitchell-Anyon.

Chris Day becomes Trustee of British Glass Foundation

Glass artist Chris Day has become a Trustee of the British Glass Foundation (BGF).

The BGF has been the driving force behind the realisation of the new Stourbridge Glass Museum (SGM), which opened in April 2022. Chris Day also won the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) 25th anniversary competition for a piece of glass art that will be situated at the SGM.

Speaking of Chris’s appointment, BGF Trustee Graham Fisher stated, “His appointment will add a new perspective to our direction of travel and will greatly strengthen our already-broad base of governance.”

Graham Knowles, BGF Chairman, added, “We are delighted that Chris has accepted our invitation to join our Board of Trustees and we all very much look forward to working with him in the future”.

Chris grew up in the West Midlands and is one of the few black glassblowers in the UK.

He creates highly personal works in glass and mixed media, which investigates the treatment of black people in Britain and the US. Much of his research focuses on the slave trade in the 18th Century and the events up to, and during, the Civil Rights Movement.

A recurring theme in his work is the use of ‘copper cages’ enclosing his glass, representing the restriction of movement, both physically and mentally, that slave traders forced on people who they viewed as mere ‘commodities’.

Chris compares the glass to the human spirit, attempting to break free despite the restrictions that hold it in place. His recent work also features the war in Ukraine.

Chris says: “Like the glass I have pushed my approach in how I work with glass and ceramics in both traditional and experimental methods, to create contemporary artworks that represent my passion for this part of our history. As a black glassblower, I am one of few and on a quest to find and inspire more. My main purpose, however, is to engage the audience on issues that are hard to confront on many levels, using art to help overcome some of the traumas that haunt our collective past.”

An emerging artist and a recent graduate from Wolverhampton University, Chris received a special commendation at the 2019 British Glass Biennale, held in Stourbridge, UK.

His commission piece for the CGS competition will be unveiled at the ‘CGS at 25’ exhibition at the SGM on 25 August at 11.30am. The CGS event will be officially opened at 6.30pm by Andy McConnell of BBC TV’s ‘Antiques Roadshow‘ fame.

See Chris Day’s work at Vessel Gallery here.

Image: (left to right) New BGF Trustee Chris Day, Vessel Gallery’s Angel Monzon, CGS Chair Susan Purser-Hope and SGM resident glassblower Allister Malcolm.

Wolverhampton Uni glass courses under threat

Wolverhampton University, of which Wolverhampton School of Art (WSoA) is part, has announced that it is suspending recruitment to 138 undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses for September 2022, including its glass and ceramics courses.

This action affects the oldest glass course in the country, which began in the 1850s in the heart of the glassmaking district of Stourbridge, before relocating a few miles up the road to Wolverhampton.

The university’s website states that it has ‘one of the largest, best equipped glass-making facilities in Europe, giving students the opportunity to experience a broad range of techniques to realise their creative aspirations’.

However, while focus is on the many uses and benefits of glass during this, the UN designated International Year of Glass, and just weeks after the opening of the state-of-the-art Stourbridge Museum of Glass nearby, the furnaces at WSoA could soon be left cold.

The university’s move impacts courses across the university portfolio and sees most of the BA courses facing a suspension of intake for September 2022, including the Glass and Ceramics BA. “In effect, this means the closure of the MA Design and Applied Arts course, as there will be no BA courses to feed through students,” explained Dr Max Stewart, the MA Design and Applied Arts course leader.

Students who have applied for the threatened courses have been offered places on alternative courses that are still running, such as the BA Fine Art.

The university’s Interim Vice-Chancellor, Ian Campbell, cited rising costs and falling student applications and enrolments for the decision. However, WSoA staff and members of the wider glass community saw it as part of a broader attack on the Arts as the university and Government place more emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects.

Ian Campbell said, “The higher education sector as a whole faces a number of significant challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased costs to the University while at the same time, like many similar universities, our enrolments have been falling, with associated loss of income. This has been compounded by difficulties around overseas travel impacting international students during the pandemic.

“The reduction in student income, combined with increases in pay and non-pay costs including pension costs, alongside the impact of the pandemic, means the University is facing a very challenging financial landscape and a significant deficit in the current financial year.

“We are embarking on a robust recovery action plan which has included an internal cost-saving exercise across the institution and an external benchmarking exercise.

“As part of the recovery plan, we have been assessing subject areas using information such as enrolment and application data, the National Student Survey, Graduate Outcomes Survey, continuation and progression of students and student experience to ensure that our course offering continues to meet the needs of future students.

“This evidence-based review means we are looking to consolidate some areas and are suspending recruitment of new students on some courses… Current students on these courses will continue to be taught as normal.”

The university stated that it remains committed to the Arts and ‘a sustainable Arts offer’ and pointed to its opening of a new £5m Screen School in Wolverhampton earlier in 2022, to support subjects such as Animation, Computer Games Design, Film and Television Production and Multimedia Journalism.

WSoA staff are looking at all options and formulating recovery plans to put to managers within the coming weeks.

Therefore, there may be hope that the glass facilities at WSoA can be maintained and can continue to support the exceptional talents of up-and-coming makers, like ‘Blown Away’ Netflix TV series winner, Elliot Walker, who is a former Wolverhampton University MA Design and Applied Arts student.

Image: Work by Wolverhampton University graduate, Elliot Walker. Photo: Simon Bruntnell.

Dominic Fonde’s Analogue Hearts exhibition at Gallery Arai

A solo exhibition of drawings and engraved glass, called ‘Analogue Hearts’, by Dominic Fonde, takes place at Japan’s Gallery Arai in June 2022.

The definitions of the word ‘Analogue’ are:

relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position, voltage, etc.

“analogue signals”

Or

a person or thing seen as comparable to another.

“an interior analogue of the exterior world”

Dominic explains the thinking behind his ‘Analogue Hearts’ exhibition pieces:

“At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with all my exhibitions cancelled, I sat down in my studio in Kobe, Japan, and wondered what I was going to do. Even access to the blowing studio where I made blanks to engrave on was restricted.

“In order to have a plentiful supply of glass, I visited a 100-yen shop, which is the Japanese equivalent of a UK pound shop, and bought a large supply of magnifying glasses. Then I began engraving images of people wearing facemasks. These stipple engraved portraits evolved into a series called ‘Pandemic Portraits’.

‘Images of these posted to Instagram resulted in requests for commissions. Then, as lockdown eased, I had invitations to submit them for exhibitions. I also got asked one question again and again: ‘How do you do these?’

“When I explained that I use nothing more hi-tech than a tungsten scriber and sit for hours tapping at the glass, creating an image from an unimaginable number of tiny dots, the reaction was incredulity. Then they asked a question that stunned me: ‘Why don’t you use a laser?’

“This got me thinking about our love-hate relationship with modern technology and modern media.

“I told Arai San, the owner of Gallery Arai, that all the processes used to create the artworks for this exhibition would be traditional hand drawing and engraving techniques. However, as I worked, I realised how much I depend on tools like my digital camera and computer. The majority of the Pandemic Portraits were developed from photographs. It was the only feasible approach with social distancing. A couple were even engraved via screen grabs over Zoom.

“We live in a digital age, where everything is experienced via the magic portal of the smart phone or tablet and people cannot imagine there may be a way to create something without using modern technology. We can 3D print everything from guns to replacement heart valves, so why shouldn’t you use a laser to engrave?

“The answer is because sometimes the process is important. Sometimes the tools the artist uses feed back into the process and allow for the idea to be articulated in a certain way. An artist uses the cumulative experience of a lifetime to shape and curate ideas. Choosing the right tool for the job, developing the technique to use that tool well, is of vital importance.

“Lasers and 3D printers can and should be used to create art, but they lead to different creative choices. They are not the only choice, as people seem to think these days. The ‘Pandemic Portraits’ series would have looked vastly different if I had used a laser.

“My vision for the drawings and engravings featured at Gallery Arai is as a series of informational bits cross-connecting all the ideas buzzing through the exhibition; old, analogue technologies, modern digital ones, hand-engraved portraits on magnifying glasses, digitally manipulated images of laptops and typewriters, plus piles of thumb drives and SD memory cards loaded with data, but painstakingly drawn using ball point pen.

“When I first started the ‘Pandemic Portraits’ series, I often talked about how art is a way for a person to look at the world, a way to find signposts and landmarks in their life. I thought I was only looking through magnifying lenses, but I came to realise I was looking through camera lenses and screens just as much. ‘Analogue Hearts’ is me looking around and trying to make a map.

The ’Analogue Hearts’ solo exhibition of drawings and engraved glass objects by Dominic Fonde takes place from 9 to 14 June 2022 at Gallery Arai, 14-20 Koshien 6bancho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8176, Japan.

www.gallery-arai.com

Image: Dominic Fonde’s ‘Pandemic Portraits’ series was stipple engraved on 100-Yen magnifying glasses. Photo: Yasutaka Akane.

Mel Douglas’ glass showcased in Sabbia Gallery exhibition

A solo exhibition of work by Australian glass artist Mel Douglas opens in Sydney on 27 May 2022.

Talking about the exhibition, ‘Linear Perspective’, Mel Douglas explains, “Objects and drawings are often thought of as two separate entities. This body of work explores and interweaves the creative possibilities of this liminal space, where the form is not just a support for drawing, but a three-dimensional drawing itself.

“Using the unique qualities of the material, and the rich potential of mark making on and with glass, I am using line as a way to inform, define and enable three-dimensional space.”

Interior view of the 'Linear Perspective' glass exhibition at Sabbia Gallery.
Interior view of the ‘Linear Perspective’ exhibition at Sabbia Gallery. Photo: Sabbia Gallery.

Mel Douglas has worked as an independent studio artist since 2000. In 2020 she was awarded a PhD from the Australian National University for practice-lead research investigating how studio glass can be understood through the aesthetics of drawing.

In addition to winning the 2020 and 2014 Tom Malone Prize, she has received several major awards, including the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2002 and the International Young Glass Award in 2007 from Ebeltolft Museum of Glass. In 2021 she was selected as the Art Group Creative Fellow at the Canberra Glassworks.

In 2019 her work was the inaugural acquisition of the NGA’s Robert and Eugenie Bell Decorative Arts and Design Fund.

Her work is held in private collections and public institutions internationally, including the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Ebeltoft Museum of Glass, Denmark, and the National Gallery of Australia, Australia.

Mel Douglas is a finalist in the prestigious 2022 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, the third Australian artist to be awarded this honour.

‘Linear Perspective’ opens at Sabbia Gallery with a private view on 27 May and runs until 18 June 2022.

Sabbia Gallery is at 609 Elizabeth Street, Redfern, NSW 2016, Sydney, Australia. More information: www.sabbiagallery.com

Main image: Mel Douglas’ ‘Disruption’ (2022) is created from kiln formed and coldworked glass.

Crowdfunding campaign launched to support Glass Works training

A project to support young European glass makers to become professionals is looking for support through a crowdfunding campaign.

The Glass Works pilot project was launched in 2018 and aims to secure the future of the art and craft of glass in Europe. Germany’s Bild-Werk Frauenau is the lead partner running Glass Works. Blid-Werk is known for its international summer academies and workshops for glass and fine arts, for creative people from around the world.

Glass Works provides start-up training for glass makers in art, craft and design, as well as actively working to strengthen cooperation between glass regions and glass makers in Europe. The programme highlights cooperation with partners in Scandinavia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Austria and France and seeks to strengthen links that will help those involved to design and market new glass and exchange ideas into the future.

The participants receive a grant and can use Bild-Werk’s workshops for six months to develop their projects. Practical work in the studios is supplemented by business and marketing courses, organised by the Danish project partner, and internships, primarily in Czech glass companies.

The scholarship holders are put in groups of 10 and exchange ideas and support each other, creating small networks that last beyond the training period.

Another aspect of Glass Works is promotion of exchange and networking across Europe. Public events have been organised with the University of Graz and an exhibition is touring Europe. In addition a digital networking platform is being built for European artists and designers, regional and international companies, museums and educational institutions.

Bild-Werk has invested a lot of time in Glass Works because it believes that the project offers prospects to young glass makers in Germany and Europe, which will strengthen the cultural heritage of glass in the longer term. Find out more here.

Glass Works is part of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and part-funded by the Bavarian ministry of Finances and Homeland, among others.

Bild-Werk’s financial contribution to Glass Works is €50,000, which is a massive burden, especially as the original plan to raise funds through corporate sponsorship was destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Therefore, it is seeking donations of any amount to help Glass Works to continue to connect artist makers with industrial craftspeople, manufacturers and new markets. Find out more and donate now via this link: www.startnext.com/en/glass-works

Glass Works is based at Bild-Werk Frauenau, Moosaustraße 18a, 94258 Frauenau, Germany.

Image: Glass Works participants receive comprehensive training and a network of support to develop their glass practice.