The International Festival of Glass, which takes place from 26-29 August 2022 in Stourbridge, UK, is offering the chance to take part in several Festival Masterclasses in the days running up to the Festival.
You can select from nine different techniques, with classes run by superb artists from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the UK and the US. The Masterclasses take place over 22-25 August 2022. Choose from:
Jiyong Lee coldworking/laminating
Joon yong Kim glassblowing/coldworking
Keiko Mukaide kiln casting
Satoshi ishida pate de verre
Eunsuh Choi flameworking
Etsuko Ishikawa pyrography
Ka-yee Chan Chinese Zen calligraphy
Wayne Strattman & Bryn Reeves neon/plasma
All of the artists will also be presenting and demonstrating during the Festival itself from 26-29 August.
The Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) is working in partnership with the Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds, to present a joint exhibition of contemporary glass.
This is a double celebration for the two organisations, with the CGS marking its 25-year anniversary and the Craft Centre and Design Gallery reaching 40 years in 2022.
Two exhibitions, under the banner ‘The Joy of Glass’, will be presented in this beautiful, Victorian building, located close to Leeds city centre. CGS approached the Craft Centre and Design Gallery for this collaboration because of its reputation for supporting both new and established artists and for bringing together the best of handmade contemporary art and crafts.
A total of 25 artists’ work will be shown in two parts. Part one runs from 23 April to 4 June 2022, while part two begins on 11 June and finishes on 23 July 2022.
The selected artists in part one are: Karen Beggs, Gina Clarke, Rachel Elliott, Magda Gay, Hannah Gibson, Nanu Hodson, Claire Lake, Brett Manley, Susan Purser Hope, Morag Reekie, Rebecca Rowland-Chandler, Sue Sinclair, and Kathryn Webley.
UPDATE: Part one is now open and you can view a virtual tour here on YouTube.
The artists in part two 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.
CGS chair, Susan Purser Hope, commented, “It is extremely exciting to have the opportunity to exhibit in such an impressive location as part of our celebratory tour around Great Britain. It was exciting viewing the work of a range of artists demonstrating such variety and imagination. We are all really looking forward to the rest of 2022, which is continuing our dazzling year for contemporary glass!”
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.
Image: ‘Seclusion’ by Rachel Elliott. Photo: Shannon Tofts.
Amber Hiscott specialises in the creation of installations for public and private spaces around the world. She has developed her own screen-printing enamel frit technique, but her designs and choice of materials are always inspired by the location of the piece. Linda Banks finds out about the challenges involved.
What led you to start working with glass?
In the time between school and university I hitch-hiked and worked for a year around Europe, Morocco and the Middle East. A plethora of vivid visual impressions affected not just my retina, but my whole body. I spent a week in the Prado in Madrid, soaking up the light and dark of Goya; gazed, transfixed, at sun beams careening through palm leaves in North Africa, but, above all, the ravishing, Gothic stained glass in Chartres Cathedral mesmerised me with aesthetic red-light therapy.
Six months later, as a kibbutznik (after selling a pint of blood at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem), I was stunned by the Chagall windows. So, they actually had modern stained glass! It was a revelation. But it didn’t occur to me at that point that I could do it.
Back in Britain, torn between literature and art as a student at Essex University in the early 1970s, I spent most of my time role-playing in physical theatre.
My Mum became seriously ill and I was granted a year off to nurse her. As she recovered, I took my portfolio and investigated the local Art College in Swansea. The colour in my drawings interested the vice-principal. He directed me to the Architectural Glass department, where Tim Lewis offered me a place. I never looked back.
I did still manage to splice in visual improvisational performances with Ritual Theatre, after learning how to draw freely with John Epstein and Dennis Creffield (who both epitomised the Bomberg dynamism). To my astonishment, I was the only student in Wales to be chosen for the Northern Young Contemporaries exhibition, which was organised by the Arts Council.
‘Razor Shells’, Callaghan Square, Cardiff (2008).
What glass techniques have you used in your career and why do you have a preference for the methods you use today?
I don’t prefer any one technique – they all have their place in the appropriate situation.
In the 1970s, when graphic, leaded work was popular because of the German School, I was more intent on experimenting with glass applique.
My work is not technique-driven, it is idea-driven and place-centric. Often the design is prescribed by the architecture, the quality and quantity of light available – whether it is surface or transmitted – the immediate or larger environment, and the culture it inhabits.
However, screen-printed enamel frit has often been my choice of technique, because it can tick all the boxes for working on a large scale in the public realm. This is not least because it can be toughened and therefore fulfils health and safety requirements.
I’m not talking about digital printing. The screen-printing I like to use is done by hand. It is highly sophisticated and is a method that has been developed over about a quarter of a century, in close collaboration with Proto Studios.
Smaller work I like to make myself, in Swansea, or Germany, or wherever I need to go to make it.
It’s good to keep an open mind initially to see what the artwork suggests. When it’s feasible, I love to use sheets of flash glass and acid-etch it.
There is no single formula, but I can give you a specific example. I was asked to create a private domestic commission in celebration of a couple’s 50th year together. I discovered that they had met on a school trip to a waterfall in South Wales. I pricked up my ears at this information, having myself had a lifelong attraction to waterfalls. One sunny day, after much rain, in March I hiked to Ystradfellte in the Powys region of Wales, equipped with a haversack of drawing materials. Entranced by the wild energy of the place I drew from behind the waterfall. Stupidly, I accidentally dropped the sketchbook into the torrent, clambering vertiginously to save it. Drenched, but delighted, on the drive home it came to me clearly which technique I would use – water jet cutting!
I have a wide vocabulary of techniques, but contemporary experiments with staining recipes during my MA unleashed a secret painterly language, which I used in the installation ‘Tunnel of Light’ at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Wales.
‘Cloc Dwr/Water Clock’ as sited (2011). This piece focuses on ideas about water and time. A stream passes through the base and an inscribed poem compares the flow and containment of water to that of the Welsh language.
You specialise in large-scale public and architectural art and work internationally. How did you get into this field?
You work hard when you find what you love doing. The Architectural Glass course in Swansea equipped me well. Immediately afterwards, I had an exhibition at the Edinburgh Fringe, won various awards, and was talent-spotted by the Crafts Council. Swansea City Council kindly provided a great studio at low rent.
Subsequently, six weeks away working with Ludwig Schaffrath in Germany taught me a lot about working to scale in architecture.
Within five years I had won two major commissions in London: The Liberty Canopy in Regent Street, which we made in Swansea, and one for the Unilever Headquarters, which was fabricated by Derix Glass studio in Taunusstein, Germany.
A decade later, I stepped out of the architectural framework by entering a national sculpture competition for Exchange Square, Bradford, which I won with ‘Quatrefoil for Delius’.
‘Quatrefoil for Delius’ at Exchange Square, Bradford (1995).
Are there particular design and physical challenges when working at a large scale on something that will be located in a public space? How do you translate your vision from an idea into an installed, large-scale work?
Yes of course there are huge, thrilling challenges. A scaled design is imperative. For sculptural work I make a maquette, so that it can be viewed from every angle.
However free the initial artwork may be, there comes a time when full-scale cartoons (working drawings) are required. Though now digital technology can assist in scaling up images, it is vital to make several samples – and sometimes many – to ensure you make the right decisions.
Meetings with the clients/architects/landscape designers/engineers/studio technicians/fabricators (not all at once) are vital to make sure everyone concerned is on the same page.
There’s no cost-cutting. The widgets and the neoprene all have to be specified and of the right quality.
‘The Journey’ is located at the Great Western Hospital, Swindon (2002).
What are the challenges and benefits of working with public bodies and boards to create glass art?
This term ‘glass art’ rankles with me. I set out to make art by finding an idea which is site-specific. If glass is the right medium for its realisation, then so be it! If not, then I am happy to use the appropriate one – anodized aluminium, felt, bone, or whatever.
There’s always an element of public bodies/boards or committees involved with artwork in the public realm. The design is for the people, and therefore needs to be chosen by a selection of their representatives. (This is my early education in revolution in Essex University speaking).
However, as an artist and an individual, I like to do extensive research and come up with my own ideas, rather than having them totally prescribed. All public art commissions are competitions. If I get through to the short list, my approach is to present what would excite me in the given space.
You win some, you lose some. I am not prepared to give away ideas; they don’t grow on trees; they grow on synapses with a healthy dose of play.
Public bodies are like individuals and vary according to their disposition. Often one or two strong personalities call the shots. You have to take that in your stride. Think of it as a performance. Be clear about your own intentions. At the least new people will get to see your work.
I was once disappointed to lose a commission for a chapel in a hospital. However, it turned out that the CEO had liked my work so much that she had something bigger in store for me instead.
The Talfan-Davies window was made for a private residence (2014).
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
I don’t have one favourite tool, but I rarely travel without a whole battery of brushes for both paper and glass. I love to use tubes of watercolour with massive wall painting brushes.
At heart I am a painter.
What message(s) do you want to convey to your audience through your work?
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
I don’t have a favourite, but there are many that come close. The community response brings me joy and fulfilment. I also like a challenge. For these reasons, the Green Mountain Monastery windows are important to me. There’s a film on Vimeo with a great soundtrack that explains more. Just google ‘Artist in nine minutes – Amber Hiscott’ to find it.
‘Our Future in the Ecozoic Era’ was made for the Green Mountain Monastery, Vermont, USA in 2019.
Where do you show and sell your work?
I have not had a one-woman show for years. It is time that I did.
However, I show internationally in group exhibitions most years, often with the Women’s International Glass Workshop. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, I showed twice in Japan and twice in Jaipur. These exhibitions were not always glass. Some were for mixed media and some were for paintings.
I also exhibited in ‘Concept and Context in Architectural Glass, Amber Hiscott and David Pearl’ at King’s College, Cambridge, in 2017. Before that I took part in an eclectic, John Ruskin-related exhibition in Sheffield Museum.
Climate change may be our downfall. I have been glad to show work in relevant exhibitions in recent years.
I look forward to showing at FLOW, the exhibition of contemporary glass, at Craft in the Bay in Cardiff this Spring 2022.
Who or what inspires you?
Silence. Though it is hard to find.
Energy rooted in the natural world. The prehistory and continual development of the Cosmos.
Has the coronavirus impacted your practice?
Of course. Nevertheless, I did curious paintings on paper, and weekly collaborations online, which resulted in intersectional exhibition work about climate change (not involving glass).
In conclusion
And finally, may I mention one piece of shameless advertising? I shall be teaching in Bild-Werk Frauenau in Germany in late August 2022. It would be good to have some British students.
Amber Hiscott working on ‘The Primal Flaring Forth’ for Green Mountain Monastery, Vermont (2018). Photo: David Pearl.
About the artist
Amber Hiscott is a painter, sculptor and architectural glass artist living and working in Wales.
Her architectural glassworks in situ include: Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Sheffield Cathedral Lantern; Wales Millennium Centre; Lamberts Glass Factory, Waldsassen; Casa Foa, Buenos Aires; Green Mountain Monastery, Vermont.
Her sculptures in the public domain include: ‘Leaf Boat’, Swansea; ‘Quatrefoil for Delius’, Bradford; ‘Blue Towers’ and ‘Razor Shells’, Cardiff (in collaboration with David Pearl).
Amber’s work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Frauenau Glass Museum, Germany, and Nishada Museum, Toyama, Japan.
While still in her 20s, Amber received the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, and the Freedom of the City of London for her contribution to architectural glass.
Immediately before the first lockdown, in March 2020, Amber represented Britain in the Women’s International Painting Camp at JKK, Jaipur, India.
Find out more via her website: www.amberhiscott.com and follow her on Instagram: @amber_hiscott
You can also watch the film ‘Amber Hiscott – Red Lady Drawn into Paviland’ by David Pearl/sound Peiriant via thisYouTube link: https://youtu.be/8cqJWQRWbMM
Main image: Detail of ‘Colourfall’ at the Wales Millennium Centre. All photos used in this article are copyright of Amber Hiscott.
Glass made using only seaweed and sand will be displayed at Kestle Barton gallery in Cornwall from 9 April-12 June 2022.
The glass was created by St Just-based glass artist Abigail Reynolds in 2019 after she discovered that seaweed was once used as a flux in glassmaking. She decided to change a Cornish beach into glass. Her exhibition, ‘Flux’, shows the glass she made using only seaweed and sand.
Alongside the glass, displayed as mouth-blown roundels, a film made by the artist will be shown, which documents the glass-making process.
After Abigail had spent a summer gathering sand and seaweed, a furnace was built at Kestle Barton in September 2019 to melt these materials to form glass at an event titled ‘Estover’. This word refers to ancient rights to take ‘that which is necessary’ from the land.
She commented on the project, “The beach is a threshold, the moving line between land and sea. Glass is also an indeterminate threshold between fluid and solid states of matter, and this is something of its magic.”
For this exhibition she has also produced a large-scale woodcut print of kelp, the seaweed mixed with beach sand used to make the glass, and a book, entitled, ‘Flux: Glass from sand and seaweed’ (2022).
Close to Kestle Barton, in Redruth, another, permanent arwork by the artist has been unveiled. This window, ‘Tre’, was commissioned by Cornwall Council and stands four metres high in the reference library at Kresen Kernow the Cornish Archive. Tre incorporates glass roundels made from sand and seaweed. It is free to view during opening hours (10am-4pm, Tuesday-Saturday).
Another book by the artist, ‘Tre: A window for Cornwall’ is also available to buy at Kestle Barton. Tre unpicks the threads of meaning woven into the window at Kresen Kernow, and gathers together the voices of writers and academics, who share some of the many diverging stories and histories to be read in the Cornish landscape.
Abigail Reynolds has a studio at Porthmeor in St Ives. She studied English Literature at St Catherine’s College Oxford University before an MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College. Visit https://abigailreynolds.com to find out more.
Kestle Barton is an ancient Cornish farmstead situated above the Helford River. Following an award-winning conservation and conversion project, the old farm buildings have new uses and one of the barns is now the gallery, which opened in 2010.
Kestle Barton is at Manaccan, Helston, Cornwall TR12 6HU. Email: info@kestlebarton.co.uk, www.kestlebarton.co.uk.
Image: Disk of olive green kelp glass by Abigail Reynolds, 2021.
Glass artists will be taking part in an exhibition at the Fortnum & Mason store in London to mark the anniversary of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The Piccadilly retailer has partnered with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) and the Royal Warrant Holders Association (RWHA) to host four exhibitions between 14 March and 19 June, each celebrating different aspects of British creativity, crafts and making.
The show, called ‘The Art of the Exceptional, a Jubilee Celebration of Makers’, will conclude with the creation of a one-off Jubilee hamper of artisan products made over the four months of the event.
The exhibition will take place across the third floor of the iconic store and every few weeks, the theme will change. The first explores ‘Wicker:Clay:Thread’ (14 March-10 April 2022), followed by ‘Wood:Glass:Paper’ (11 April-8 May) and ‘Leather:Metal:Cloth’ (9-29 May). The Jubilee hamper will be revealed in parallel with a ‘Scent of Summer’ exhibition, celebrating all things floral (30 May-19 June). ‘Typography & Illustration’ will be showcased alongside these works for the duration of the event.
Works in the ‘Cassio’ range will be shown by Katherine Huskie.
Each exhibition will feature work by three of the makers commissioned to produce objects for the hamper, as well as work by other QEST scholars creating in the same field. In addition, Royal Warrant-holding businesses will show their products alongside those of the QEST artisans.
Scott Benefield has been chosen from the glass scholars to make a carafe for the hamper. He will also show samples from his production range of functional glass wares and a unique piece called ‘Albion’ (main image), created especially for this event. Other QEST glass artists exhibiting are Katherine Huskie, Effie Burns, Timothy Harris, Celia Dowson and Grace Ayson. Katherine will show a range of her ‘Cassito’ pieces (see image above), while Effie Burns will exhibit her ‘Box of Delights’ (see image below).
Effie Burns’ ‘Box of Delights’ features precious cast glass objects. Photo: David Williams.
The one-off hamper will be sold with all profits going towards the QEST scholarship.
Jo Newton, Head of Buying at Fortnum & Mason, commented: “For over 300 years we have been creating, making and collaborating with the UK’s finest producers to bring joy into the lives of our customers. We are very proud to be partnering with the Royal Warrant-holders and QEST, and all the makers involved, to create a showcase of products that are inspired by the past, conceived in the present and created for the future.”
Main image: ‘Albion’ (2022) created by Scott Benefield for this event.
The long-awaited new Stourbridge Glass Museum will be opening its doors on Saturday 9 April 2022.
The museum is housed in the former home of Stuart Crystal in Wordsley, West Midlands, which has been refurbished and updated to create a world-class venue with support from the European Regional Development Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, among others. Find out more about its background here.
Visitors will be able to view over 500 items from the internationally renowned Stourbridge Glass Collection, celebrating the heritage of glassmaking in both the local area and internationally. The collection has pieces from the past 400 years, with a particular emphasis on cameo glass, which became a speciality of the Stourbridge Glass Quarter.
Traditional skills will come alive with glassmaking demonstrations by the resident glass artist Allister Malcolm. Incidentally, talented Allister made the glass slipper for the recent film ‘Cinderella’, which was filmed at Pinewood Studios. You can watch how he did it here.
You can also try your hand at creating or decorating your own piece of glass. There are different hot glass taster sessions where you can make a paperweight, jewellery or other glass items. More information and bookings here.
Throughout the museum are fun, interactive, touchscreen exhibits, including one where you can add decoration to a 3D vase or jug on screen using cameo glass, acid etching or cut crystal technique. You drag and drop your design onto the object and can see how it looks as a finished piece.
In addition to the Stourbridge Glass Collection display, the museum will highlight the best in contemporary glass design, too. The first artist to be represented will be Vanessa Cutler. She was featured in Glass Network digital in 2021 when she described how to design glass art using waterjet technology. Read that piece and see some of her beautiful glass work here.
The next exhibition at Stourbridge has been arranged in conjunction with the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS), to celebrate the organisation’s 25-year anniversary. Called ‘CGS at 25: Then, Now, the Future’, it will feature glass luminaries such as Elliot Walker and Ayako Tani, among others, who have been invited to participate by the CGS. This exhibition will take place from 22 July until 31 October 2022.
The Stourbridge Glass Museum opens to the public at 10am on 9 April 2022.
US-based David Willis takes a cross-disciplinary approach to his glass practice and has produced a diverse body of work during his career. He focuses on the idea that the most intimate and important aspects of an individual’s life are common to all people. Linda Banks finds out more.
What led you to start working with glass?
I began flameworking glass after becoming friendly with a flameworker, Bob Snodgrass. I watched him work for a few years on and off in Eugene, Oregon (in the USA), when I was passing through or visiting. I was drawn to his fun and creative approach, which featured lots of curiosity about the material and interest in investigation. I asked to join his apprenticeship programme. He agreed, and we started working together in 1994.
One of David Willis’ larger scale installations, ‘Daisy’. These pieces are taller than a man, as shown by David Willis standing on the right of the photograph.
You use a diverse range of techniques to create everything from large sculptures to delicate frit paintings. Do you have a preference for any particular method?
I don’t know that I prefer any one method, although flameworking feels the most like home – a bit like driving my truck to go camping or hiking. The driver’s seat of the truck is a comfortable and familiar place where I have spent a lot of time, but I’m excited to get to a new destination and walk around and explore.
Whatever process I’m using, at some stage I notice that I’m micromanaging small amounts of material to build something larger. So, I guess I find myself and my zone in different methods. This can make them all feel somewhat the same… So again, no real preference.
‘Over LA’ demonstrates the finest skills with pate de verre technique.
What is your creative approach?
I once found a quote from the artist Louise Bourgeois where she’s talking about two types of creativity. One is an idea that comes in a flash, more or less fully formed. The other is an idea that needs to be studied and planned and considered at length before the final design is realised. She suggested that you’ve got to have both, and that you have to be able to “think hallucinatorily”. That has always resonated with me.
‘Pushing up daisies’ features flameworked borosilicate glass in a mirror box.
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
I guess if all tools were to be stripped from me, I would want to keep my bench burner torch, a Carlisle CC. It has great range and allows me to make pretty large sculpture and pretty small and detailed botanical work. Most of my other processes I can do by hand with raw materials. But I do think that, because hot glass will burn the blank out of you, and you can’t touch it with your hands, glassblowers might be tool fetishists… I certainly love a lot of my tools as helpers and beautiful objects.
‘In the garden’ is created in pate de verre technique.
What message(s) do you want to convey to your audience through your intricate work?
I think most of my work is Nature based and my basic message is to care about Nature, because, ultimately, it supports our existence. And I feel we may be at a dire intersection, with hard decisions to take about what is good for individuals versus what is good for the future of our species. So, I hope my nod to Nature is a little reminder of this to folks.
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
I don’t know that I have a favourite piece. A piece of glass I made that I admire a lot is the flowering peach branch in ‘Still, life…’ But that is not my favourite piece. I hope that my favourite piece is somewhere in the future.
This peach branch sculpture demonstrates David Willis’ skill in flame worked glass.
You are actively involved in the glass arts community. Why is this important to you?
I feel like the glass arts community has introduced me to an awful lot: friends, something like a career, knowledge, inspiration, people I look up to, a partner, my daughter… So, I’d like to support these systems by trying to impact them in ways I find meaningful and important. There is so much potential and creative capital within the glass arts community. As Bruce Mau said, “The future will be beautiful, if we have one.” (I met him at Pilchuck Glass School when I was teaching and he was an Artist in Residence).
What is next for your glass practice?
One of the things I like best about my practice is that I let my curiosity lead, to a large degree. This keeps me always working in an investigative mode somewhere in my studio on any given day, which is exciting and engaging. So, I don’t really know what’s next, and I’m ok with that.
Currently, in terms of what people haven’t seen yet, I’m working on some mixed media sculpture with glass and stainless steel, and some sculptural forms built from cursive text in borosilicate tubing.
David Willis gets ‘hands on’ with his art.
Where do you show and sell your work?
Since about 2010 I’ve worked primarily with David Austin at Austin Art Projects and it’s been great. He’s fantastic and I owe him a lot.
Do you have a career highlight?
I have a bunch, not necessarily in this order: when Lino Tagliapietra asked if he could take a picture of me and my work at one of my shows; praise I’ve had from Sally Prasch and Cesare Toffolo; being honoured for artistic mastery in glass by Salem Community College; Kiki Smith talking about me in the New York Times; Art in America describing a piece in the Whitney Biennial I made for Jim Hodges as “exquisitely crafted”…
Who or what inspires you?
I’m inspired by the forms and scale and beauty of Nature, and the forms, scale and beauty of the people in my life. My work with, and relationships to, artists I am fortunate enough to have in my life inform my practice. Right now, I’d highlight Jim Hodges, whose beautiful work is so personal to him, Therman Statom, who does so much with his work for other people, Paul Rucker whose work draws out beauty from very difficult places… I could go on at length.
‘Rainy Day Dream Away’ installation.
Has the coronavirus impacted your practice?
Absolutely, in many ways. Also I’m a new dad with a two-year-old daughter and my partner, her mom, is immunocompromised… So it’s been pregnancy and newborn life, followed closely by lockdown and baby life, into now a parenting an unvaccinated child and toddler life. All of this has affected my practice. We are definitely cautious and a bit isolated.
Plus, the travel that has always been part of my work has been cancelled, and will be until our daughter has some protection from the virus. Fortunately, all of this creates a hugely rich home life and we are very privileged to be comfortable, and healthy and happy, and able to spend so much of this formative time of our daughter’s life together.
But I wouldn’t call this the most materially productive time in my career, and I do like to work.
‘Figure’ exemplifies David Willis’ mastery of flameworking.
About the artist
David Willis holds a BA in Interdepartmental Field Studies from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on Social Change and a Minor in Conservation and Resources Studies.
He has been a part-time lecturer at the University of Washington, School of Art, Art History and Design. He has also been an instructor at the Pilchuck Glass School, the Corning Museum of Glass Studio, the University of Oregon, and the Penland School of Craft.
He has been a featured artist at the Niijima Glass Art Festival in Japan and has demonstrated many times for the Glass Art Society (GAS).
His work is included in public, private, and museum collections nationally and internationally.
In addition to his own practice, Willis has assisted some of the world’s top contemporary artists to create sculptural work in glass, including Jim Hodges, Kiki Smit, and Urs Fischer.
Serving on the Board of Trustees of the Pilchuck Glass School, Willis co-chairs the Green Committee and the DEAI Committee and is a past Director of the GAS.
As part of its packed programme of Silver Jubilee celebrations and exhibitions in 2022, the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) is working with the National Glass Centre (NGC), in Sunderland, to present the show ‘It’s All in the Technique’.
This exhibition, launched in January 2022, showcases artworks by artists who demonstrate the very best in glass skills, using a wide range of techniques. The show closes on 13 March 2022 so there is still time to visit.
‘Storm in a Teacup’, (2018) by Katharine Coleman. Photo: Katharine Coleman.
The artists selected are: Scott Benefield, Katharine Coleman, Vanessa Cutler, Andrea da Ponte, Dominic Fonde, Katherine Huskie, Joshua Kerley, Jessie Lee, Verity Pulford, Cathryn Shilling, Dr Helen Slater Stokes, Nancy Sutcliffe, Ulrike Umlauf-Orrom and Muna Zuberi.
The selection panel, which included Julia Stephenson from the NGC, had the exciting job of choosing work that showed the range and amazing techniques used in glass making, from engraving to casting, blowing to waterjet cutting.
The judges were overwhelmed by the diversity and quality of work, but finally selected the 14 artists listed here to represent the very best of contemporary glass art.
The show takes place at the NGC, from 15 January – 13 March 2022. Find out more about the NGC here.
Main image: Jessie Lee’s ‘Hurricane’, (2018). Photo: Simon Bruntnell.
The 2022 Amanda Moriarty Memorial Prize offers the chance to win a five-day residency at The Glass Hub in Wiltshire.
In 2017, Amanda Moriarty, a long-serving Board member and Honorary Treasurer of the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS), passed away. To celebrate her enthusiasm and encouragement of glassmaking, CGS offers this annual prize in her memory.
The residency will enable the winner to extend their practice, with the assistance of the Glass Hub directors, Helga Watkins-Baker and Katrina Rothe, and the Glass Hub team.
The aim is to develop original ideas, with the potential to produce a new piece of work or project through to a finished piece. This can be in kiln, hot glass or lampworking techniques, or a combination of all.
The Glass Hub provides extensive glass-working facilities, supported by a dedicated team to foster individual creative growth and expertise. It runs glassmaking courses in glassblowing, fusing, lampworking and kiln working, plus many specialist techniques for all abilities, from beginner to master.
CGS will pay £300 towards accommodation/travel during the residency.
This is a fantastic opportunity for glass artists at all levels and at all stages of their careers to step back, take time and explore their potential in well-equipped studios alongside established tutors and artists.
We know that there will be a great deal of interest in this prize, so please tell us all about yourself and what you hope to achieve in your application.
A short list of four artists will be selected from all the applications. They will be interviewed via Zoom by members of the Glass Hub and the CGS Board.
The winner will be announced in early May 2022.
The residency will take place in Autumn 2022, subject to studio availability. Final dates will be confirmed by The Glass Hub.All CGS members can apply for this Prize by completing the application form and returning it to admin@cgs.org.uk . If you are not yet a member of CGS, why not join now to take advantage of this great opportunity? The application form is available via this link on the CGS Noticeboard.
The deadline for applications is Monday 4 April 2022.
Read about the experiences of some previous winners of the Amanda Moriarty Memorial Prize: Calum Dawes and Cara Wassenberg.
Image: Amanda Moriarty, in whose name this annual prize is awarded.
Ginny Ruffner’s ‘anything is possible’ attitude has led her to use many different media and technologies in her art and public installations. Her recent work features Augmented Reality to help the viewer interact with the display. Linda Banks, Glass Network digital’s editor, finds out more.
You are a respected and long-established artist who works with a variety of different media. What led you to start working with glass?
As a painter in graduate school, I was studying Marcel Duchamp’s artwork on glass panels, entitled ‘The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even’ (also known as ‘The Large Glass’). It is such an evocative, mysterious and inspiring piece of art that I was moved to investigate working with glass.
Can you tell us something about how you developed your pioneering lampworking methods? How have they evolved?
In the early 1970s I was introduced to lampworked borosilicate glass. I realised that lampworked glass had a lot of undeveloped potential, both due to its underutilised physical properties, and its history. I had so many ideas of what could be created with this medium, but no skill to realise any of them.
I managed to secure a position as an apprentice glassblower. My aesthetic evolved in tandem with my lampworking skill. I wanted to create structures that had balance, strong construction values and visual ‘flow’. Also, I wanted to try merging lampworking with painting skills to create sculpture that had more narrative content.
My belief that anything is possible has propelled me to try many different ways of working with many different media through the years.
‘Secret Life of Painting’ (7’’ x 7.75’’ x 20.5’’) shows Ginny Ruffner’s love of combining artistry with deeper meaning. Photo: Mike Seidl.
Do you draw your designs out or dive straight in with the materials?
Both.
What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
A pencil is my favourite, because you can record thoughts and ideas in a way that they can be recreated in your mind later.
Your glass sculptures are bright and bold. What message do you want to covey to your audience through your intricate work?
I want everyone to continue to be aware of beauty.
‘What’s Really in the Space Between Integers’ (22” x 18” x 13”). Photo: Mike Seidl.
You push the boundaries of what contemporary craft means through incorporating the latest technologies in your installations. Can you tell us why and how you used Augmented Reality in your ‘Alternative Mythologies’ and ‘Reforestation of the Imagination’ works?
Augmented Reality (AR) is a new way of layering the art experience; one that provokes the imagination. This is always a goal of my work. AR requires some action of the viewer (to enable deployment), thereby making the art experience one of interaction and viewer intention.
The ‘Alternative Mythologies’ exhibition at the Oxbow Gallery allows visitors to interact with the objects and make AR discoveries. Photo: James Harnois.
Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
Actually I have two:
First, ‘The Urban Garden’. This is a 30-foot high kinetic water feature in downtown Seattle in the USA. It is a favourite because of its scale and its location. It is a 30-foot tall bouquet of flowers in a pot. The flowers move and the red watering can tips and waters the pot every 15 minutes.
‘The Urban Garden’, by Ginny Ruffner, is located at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, Seattle, USA. This picture shows her at the opening in front of the giant flower pot.
The second is ‘Mind Garden’. This was an installation at the Seattle Art Museum that included 30,000 freeze-dried roses and several large steel and glass sculptures. It is a favourite because it smelled great and was referential to the beautiful garden that is one’s mind.
The ‘Mind Garden’ installation is a favourite of Ginny Ruffner. Photo: Mike Seidl.
What direction will your art take next?
Who knows? Probably more tech – tech that doesn’t exist yet.
Where do you show and sell your work?
I usually sell my glass work at Austin Art Projects in Palm Desert, California. Typically, my work is shown at museums or in permanent public art settings.
‘Reforestation of the Imagination’ AR installation at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian.
ROTI combines traditional sculpture with AR. By using technology to overlay digital information onto sculptural objects, two disparate environments are portrayed.
The initial environment consists of five barren land masses which support the colourless glass stumps. Apart from the painted shelf, mushrooms and painted tree rings on the stumps and logs, the scene is colourless. The five land masses surround a sixth rocky outcropping with a beautifully grotesque bronze and fibreglass tree. This central tree, made of various materials (fibreglass, bronze, plastic) that have survived this devastation, is returning to a familiar canopy shape.
The barren landscape comes alive with AR technology, revealing bright, new plant life.
At first glance, the devastated landscape appears to be barren. Yet, upon viewing the tree rings aided by AR technology, a second environment is revealed. Plants appear (both fruit and flowers) which have evolved from existing flora. They have developed dramatic and beautiful appendages and the skills necessary to adapt and flourish in this new, radically different environment. From accessing nutrients in ways that symbiotically improve their surrounding conditions, to developing new protections from new threats, these adaptations are unexpected, beautiful and optimistic.
This is nature reimagining itself. The imagination can’t be exterminated. It just recreates itself.
Who or what inspires you?
Nature. Thinking. Reading.
Ginny Ruffner has devoted her career to pushing the boundaries of art and is not afraid to try new materials and approaches.
About the artist Seattle-based artist Ginny Ruffner trained at the University of Georgia as a painter, graduating with honours and an MFA in painting.
She has had 88 solo shows, several hundred group shows, and her work is in 55 permanent museum and public collections around the world. Seattle public art installations include a 30-foot tall kinetic water feature downtown and a permanent installation in the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park.
Recent Augmented Reality projects include ‘Weston Riff’ at Photo Center NW, ‘Branches’ at Seattle International Film Festival and ‘Poetic Hybrids’ at Seattle Art Museum.
She has written two books and been the subject of an award winning, full-length documentary titled, ‘A Not So Still Life, the Ginny Ruffner Story’.
Ruffner has lectured and taught extensively and served as an artist-in-residence at schools and universities around the world.
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