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Glass Sellers and CGS graduate Glass Prize winners announced

The graduate winners of the Glass Prize, and those to be featured in the New Graduate Review publication for 2021, have been announced.

Despite the challenges of completing their glass courses over the past two years, 38 applications were received from graduates from 2020 and 2021 for the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London and Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) Glass Prize and inclusion in the New Graduate Review 2021.

First prize goes to Erica Poyser BA, from De Montfort University, Leicester; second prize is awarded to Dr Helen Slater Stokes, PhD, from the Royal College of Art, London; two runners-up prizes are awarded to Sacha Delabre BA, from the University of Sunderland, and Stephanie Harper MA, from the University for The Creative Arts, Farnham.

The Second Prize winner, ‘Oculus’, by Dr Helen Slater Stokes. Photo: Ester Segarra.

Erica wins £500 in cash; £200 Creative Glass UK vouchers; the cover position of New Graduate Review plus two feature pages inside; two years’ CGS Membership; a selection of glass-related books, including ‘A Passion For Glass’, from Alan J. Poole, plus free subscription to Neues Glas.

Commenting on her first prize win, Erica Poyser said: “Wow this is crazy! THANK YOU! I am so excited and honoured to have won this prize! There were so many amazing glass graduates this year, and they have all created such amazing work in the extra challenging circumstances. I am so proud of the work I have been able to accomplish this year. I couldn’t have done it without the incredible help of my glass partner Rosie Perrett and my incredible teacher Jill Ellinsworth! Thank you again for this prize! It’s such an amazing way to end my three years of university!”

Part of what helped Erica win was her passionate explanation of the thinking behind her work in her application, which struck a chord with the judges:

“The process of glass blowing, and its endless creative capabilities, are an addiction to anyone who is lucky enough to have a go. I found my passion for glassblowing through my Design Crafts degree, and I am working hard to learn as much as I can about the art. I want to pursue a career in glass making and keep expanding my knowledge of the material.

“A 2020 UK summer survey, reported by Young Minds, resulted in 80% of respondents agreeing that the Coronavirus pandemic made their mental health worse. My collection of glass pieces represents the overwhelming emotions many have tackled alone over the past year. Hopefully representing those emotions in a physical form can bring a cathartic feeling as people can relate my art to their own emotions from the past year.”

‘Time to go’ was one of the two runners-up prize winners, by Sacha Delabre. Photo: Michael Goncalves.

The CGS recognises that it has been an unimaginably difficult time for students graduating over the past 18 months. “Despite this, we had 38 excellent applications from graduates from 13 different colleges spanning 2020 and 2021,” commented Susan Purser Hope, CGS chair. “The quality was really impressive, especially considering the tough time students have all experienced, and the judging panel had such a hard task selecting four winners for the prizes plus another 16 graduates for the Review.

“We are extremely grateful to all our sponsors who provided financial support and prizes for the Glass Prize and New Graduate Review 2021, without whom this would not have been possible: Professor Michael Barnes MD FRCP, The Worshipful Company Of Glass Sellers Of London Charity Fund, Creative Glass UK, Pearsons Glass, Warm Glass, Neues Glas – New Glass: Art & Architecture and Alan J. Poole.”

Stephanie Harper’s piece ‘As Above’ won a runner-up prize. Photo by the artist.

Other glass graduates recognised for their achievements were:

Highly Commended:

Wai Yan Choi MA, Royal College of Art, London;
Belinda King BA, De Montfort University, Leicester;
Pratibha Mistry MA, University for The Creative Arts, Farnham;
Rosie Perrett BA, De Montfort University, Leicester;
Moon Ju Suh MFA, Edinburgh College of Art.

Commended:

Kate Courtney-Taylor BA, University For The Creative Arts, Farnham;
Catherine Dunstan MA, University for The Creative Arts, Farnham;
Shona Escombe (HNC) City of Glasgow College;
Steven Graham BA, University of Stirling;
Ossin Hanrahan BA, Crawford College of Art and Design, Ireland;
Chengyu Li MA, Royal College of Art, London;
Ethel Moir BA, Crawford College of Art and Design, Ireland;
Tamar ‘ Nikki’ Palmer BA, University of Wolverhampton;
Áine Ryan BA, Crawford College of Art and Design, Ireland;
Bethany Walker MA, Royal College of Art, London;
Samantha Wuidart BA, De Montfort University, Leicester.

The selection panel comprised: Angela Jarman (artist), Michael Barnes (glass collector/CGS trustee), Sarah L Brown (glass artist/CGS trustee) and Leigh Baildham (chairman of trustees at Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London Charity Fund [WCGSCF]).

Leigh Baildham remarked, “The WCGSCF is delighted to be associated with the CGS Graduate award, which we hope will help to encourage another new generation of studio glass artisans.”

Prof Michael Barnes said, “It was a pleasure to once again judge this year’s prize. Considering this was such an awful year in many ways, it was great to see so many entrants and such high quality. As ever, we struggled to give the prizes, with so many good pieces to choose from. However, a winner emerged, and several really high-quality runners up and highly commended and commended. Well done to everyone and I really hope that the prize will help some excellent artists become established in the glass world.”

The CGS New Graduate Review 2021 is a 16-page print publication, which will be circulated to all CGS members and associates, as well as distributed through Neues Glas – New Glass: Art & Architecture magazine.

Main image: First prize winner ‘Constricted’ by Erica Poyser. Photo: Matt Stone, Matt Evans.

Head in the clouds

Dutch glass artist Bibi Smit is inspired by natural forms and loves to develop her ideas through varying pattern and colour. Linda Banks finds out more.

What led you to start working with glass?

I was a Foundation student in Farnham, at the West Surrey College of Art and Design. I decided to move to England and study there. During my introductory year, I spent a long time watching other people work with glass and I became very interested in the material. I saw the glass as a fluid, moving, living material that could be used to create art. I was fascinated and felt that it was a material of expression. There seemed to be a link between watercolour painting and glass. The transparency and light colour of each layer was like water colouring with glass.

What glass techniques have you used in your career and why do you prefer those you use today?

I like the immediacy of working with glass. I like sandcasting and glassblowing. In sandcasting, you ladle the hot glass out of the pot and pour it into a sand mould. The resulting pieces are very nice, heavy objects made of glass.

I like being close to the glass. When you are blowing, you are physically close to it. You are breathing into it; you are touching it with the tools. It is a more intimate relationship. When I am working with hot glass, I have a connection with the material and I see how it moves.

But I also feel the same connection when I am cutting and polishing, because it is a nice contrast with the hot glass. It has a meditative quality that allows me to contemplate the pieces. It’s more relaxed and ‘Zen’. I find it really calming because it is so different. I enjoy combining hot and cold techniques to achieve the shape that I want.

Bibi Smit at work in the hotshop (2021). Photo: Matilde Bignotti.

Can you tell us something about how you developed your working methods? Do you draw your designs out or dive straight in with the materials?

I prefer to make something small with the material. I work out the dimensions and the process in a small scale. I may do colour tests and draw to get the proportions right, but I would rather do it hot. Drawing and working with hot glass are processes with very different natures.

Who or what inspires you?

I feel inspired by nature; the way the wind moves the waves and the trees, the way birds fly through the sky. I feel inspired by architecture and shapes.

I am also inspired by the people who taught me how to work with glass, such as David Kaplan and Annica Sandstrom at Lindean Mill Glass in Scotland, and Willem Heesen at De Oude Horn in Leerdam, where I started out as a glass assistant. I had a lot of freedom to use the furnaces and develop my own work, to do the hours and make the mistakes that allowed my work to develop. I think mostly I am inspired by their working thoughts, their commitment to the material, attention to details and by the way they set up the workshops.

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

My metal ladles are one of my favourites because they give me a strong feeling when I am stretching the glass. I feel through the material and the tools become my hands and fingers.

Gravity as a tool is also very important; there is so much behind understanding how glass moves. I also love the smell of some of my brushes, like The Barcelona, my grass brush from Spain. It has an amazing smell when I use it on the glass. I buy different brushes and new, small tools for my workshop wherever I go. When I find something new that I haven’t used before I find it really exciting.

‘Clouds Trio’ (2020) is made from blown and sandblasted glass. Dimensions: 80x80x40cm. Photo: Frieda Mellema.

A lot of your work is very organic. What message(s) do you want to covey to your audience through your art?

I think art creates happiness. Some people have an emotional connection with pieces because they convey a feeling or a story. I grow relationships with the things that surround me. Some came from the forest, some from my parents’ house, others from the unknown. They all tell a story. Glass is the same for me; it carries something to be said and a soul. The organic, the natural forms, the wind, the softness of the shapes – they all carry a sensibility that mirrors how we look at nature and find energy through both nature and art.

You are exhibiting ‘Clouds’ as part of ‘Masterly – the Dutch in Milan’ in Italy this September. How and why did you develop this installation?

‘Clouds’ by Bibi Smit (2021). Created from blown and sandblasted glass. Dimensions: 40x100x50cm. Photo: Frieda Mellema.

The original idea was inspired by a painting called ‘Huis ten Bosch’, by Jan ten Compe. I decided to look at the clouds of the Dutch masters, the painters of the Golden Age, and their big skies in the landscape. The clouds have a softness, which glass also has.

I kept making more pieces, because I saw another colour that I wanted to try out and translate into glass. And I wanted to make an installation that was bigger than the audience – where you have to walk around and become part of it. It needed to have a certain size to achieve the idea of being in a space where you can forget about everything else. The audience would be embraced by the installation.

I think it’s hard to get everything right in one piece: the colour, the shape, the build-up, the thickness, timing and gravity all need to be right. There are only a few seconds to make decisions with glass and you change with them. Each piece brought me a step closer to what I was envisioning. The installation is an ode to the power of nature.

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

For me, it’s mostly the piece that I am working on. It has a sense of temporality. I made a crinkle vase a few years ago and I took a picture of it to remember it. Later on, this idea was developed into the ‘Crinkle’ glasses. I like the sense that I have a piece that doesn’t look good, but I know it has something that I want to develop further and I don’t know what that is yet. I have some of these pieces sitting on shelf, waiting for the right moment. I find that very exciting.

And thinking back, the first ‘Swarm’ I made marked a very special moment in my work, because I made so many elements and created something bigger. In this way I started working with installations. I had the excitement of making so many different elements and levels that allowed me to create the movement I was looking for.

The ‘Swarm’ installation (2018). Created from hot glass and metal. Dimensions: 100x500x200cm. Photo: Laura Majolino.

Where do you show and sell your work?

Currently, I am showing my work at De Kliuw Gallery, Bonnard Gallery and Wilms Gallery in the Netherlands. I also sell my work at the Mint Shop in London and Haven Palm Beach in Florida. And I host exhibitions in my studio and gallery, in Loosdrecht, by appointment.

This autumn I will also be participating in the Masterly Dutch Pavilion part of the Salone de Mobile in Milan (5-10 September), Venice Glass Week in Venice (4-12 September), Masterly the Hague (21-24 October), and National Glass Centre Prize in Sutherland (October 2021-March 2022).

‘Belenos’ (2018) (200x200cm).

Do you have a career highlight?

I think receiving recognition for my work has been a very important part of my career. There are moments when I have received a nice critique of my work and sometimes people tell me they have felt a connection with the object; they felt something spoke to them. That is very important to me.

How has the coronavirus impacted your practice?

Initially, having a glass workshop gave me the freedom to keep creating and making, even when I was there by myself. I made a limited series of drinking glasses in that time. It was just me in the studio with the furnace on. So, in my case it just gave me space to make and blow glass, for a few weeks.

About the artist

Bibi Smit (b. 1965) is a Dutch glass artist and designer, living and working in the Netherlands. Her work explores the patterns, rhythms, colours and movement of natural phenomena.

Smit was a glassblowing assistant to Willem Heesen (NL) and trained with David Kaplan at Lindean Mill Glass (UK).

Since the 1990s, she has shown at national and international exhibitions, including national glass museums and the Salone del Mobile in Milan. She attended a workshop with Boyd Sugiki at Pilchuck Glass School (USA) and has lectured at the Edinburgh College of Art and Sunderland University, as well as other glass centres in Europe. She is an active member of the Glass Art Society (USA).

In 2019, the documentary ‘Moving Glass’ was selected for the North Lands Creative Film Festival. The Glassmaker episode from the World of Calm series, streaming at HBO Max, is a poetic narrative of her work and the power of nature.

Public collections: National Museums of Scotland (UK), Nationaal Glass Museum (NL), Museum Jan (NL), Glassmuseum Lednické Rovne (SK), Collection North Lands Creative Glass (UK), Museum für Glaskunst (DE) and the Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting- Stiftung (DE).

Find out more via her website: www.bibismit.nl or visit Milan for the 59th edition of Salone del Mobile, where Bibi Smit will present for the fifth year in a row. Here, from 5-10 September 2021, the ‘Clouds’ installation will be shown as part of ‘Masterly – The Dutch in Milan’.

Main feature image: Detail from ‘Clouds’ by Bibi Smit. Photo: Frieda Mellema.

Life Forms contemporary glass exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York

If you love contemporary glass and want to see some in person, make a note to visit ‘Life Forms’, on show at the Pyramid Gallery in York between 11 September and 31 October 2021.

The Life Forms exhibition features the work of over 30 glass artists from around the world, each of whom was invited by the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) to submit one, two, or three pieces for selection.

Until the pandemic forced its postponement, this exhibition was scheduled to open in May 2020. This date marked the 200th anniversary of the launch of the ship HMS Beagle, which took the famous naturalist Charles Darwin around the world and to the Galapagos Islands for his research. The artists were asked to take inspiration for their glass art from structure, form and evolution in Nature, in celebration of science and the natural world.

Cast glass sculpture, ‘Evolving Movement’, by Monette Larsen.

The artists showing work include: Carolyn Basing, Mim Brigham, Isobel Brunsdon, Tabitha Burrill, Helen Eastham, Dominic Fonde, Jianyong Guo, Dot Hill, Catherine Hough, Katherine Huskie, Max Jacquard, Naomi Jacques, Susan Kinley, Yuki Kokai, Rebecca Laister, Monette Larsen, Nicky Lawrence, Jon Lewis, Roberta Mason, Anthony McCabe, Wendy Newhofer, Tracy Nicholls, Yoshiko Okada, Rebecca Rowland-Chandler, Helen Slater Stokes, Nancy Sutcliffe, Angela Thwaites, Noreen Todd, Elizabeth Welsh, Frans Wesselman, Sue Woolhouse, Sandra Young, and Maria Zulueta.

View the selected works and read about the artists’ thought processes and construction techniques in this YouTube video.

Life Forms will be on show in the two first floor exhibition rooms at the Pyramid Gallery. The opening will take place on Saturday 11 September 2021 (11am-2.30pm). Works will be on show until 31 October 2021.

‘Leafy Seadragon’ by Sandra Young. Photo: Simon Bruntnell Photography.

Read more about the artists and their work here.

If you wish to purchase art from Life Forms, here is a link to pieces for sale.

Pyramid Gallery is located at: 43 Stonegate, York YO1 8AW, UK.

Main image: ‘Monkey’s Uncle’, cast glass sculpture by Dot Hill. Photo: A Lloyd.

Alison Lowry’s Belfast exhibition highlights women’s suffering

An exhibition of sculpture, video and sound has been created in response to the historical suffering of Irish women and children highlighted in a recent report. The display, by Northern Irish glass artist Alison Lowry, is on now at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Showing in the gallery’s Project Space, ‘The Bystander Effect’ is the culmination of two years of research examining the role of society in allowing an ‘architecture of containment’ to develop in Northern Ireland.

The gallery explains that, within the exhibition, the term ‘architecture of containment’ describes the physical infrastructure and systems used to incarcerate women and children in 18th and 19th century Ireland, including Industrial Schools, children’s homes, mother and baby institutions and Magdalene laundries.

Within these religious and state-run institutions, it continues, women and children were hidden in plain sight, ostracised and ‘othered’ by society. The ‘shame’ that the unmarried mother brought to her family (and the complicit) wider community meant that, after delivering her baby in secret, the mother was frequently coerced into signing away her baby, to be adopted or placed into a children’s home.

Alison Lowry presents a sculptural piece of found objects that questions whether survivors of these institutions will get the justice they deserve. In addition, suspended sculptural objects, video and sound explore the ongoing suffering of the birth mothers. These works have been created in response to the report Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland.

The focal point of the exhibition is an interactive installation of glass and ceramic objects and a documented performance. The installation engages with the research of forensic archaeologist Toni Maguire. Toni spent four years investigating the Bog Meadows in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast. She estimates that at least 36,000 babies and children are buried there in unmarked graves. According to church records, the burials took place between the 1930s and 1990s. Interred in the Bog Meadows are stillborn babies, who were considered unsuitable for burial in consecrated ground, and children from various children’s homes in Belfast, at least some of whom would have been transferred from mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland.

In response, Lowry staged a peaceful protest at the gates of Milltown Cemetery, creating the performance ‘They all had names’.

The exhibition is on at the Golden Thread Gallery, 84-94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast BT1 2LU from 5 August – 9 September 2021. Opening times: Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm; Saturday 11am-4pm. Admission is free.

Alison Lowry is based in Saintfield, Northern Ireland. Her awards include first place in ‘Glass Art’ at the Royal Dublin Show in 2015 and 2009, the Silver medal at the Royal Ulster Arts Club’s Annual Exhibition in 2010, plus the Warm Glass Prize in 2010, 2011 and 2017.

CGS at 25: live exhibitions for 2022

Glassblowing

To mark the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) 25 years of supporting studio glass makers, an exciting, year-long programme of live exhibitions will run throughout 2022.

Many of these events will be held in collaboration with other national glass organisations and galleries as we celebrate and promote the strength and glory of the glass community in the UK.

Here is a list of the physical exhibitions that will be taking place around the country, all of which will be selling shows for CGS members.

If you are not yet a member of CGS, now is the time to become a member so you can participate in these (and more) events.

Applications for entry in the first exhibition are open from early August 2021, followed by many others to whet your appetite and inspire your glass creativity. Make a note of the details of any that take your fancy now. Further reminders will be sent to members in the coming months.

CGS exhibitions in 2022:

It’s all in the Technique (Selected show)
Venue: National Glass Centre, Sunderland
Exhibition dates: 15 January – 13 March 2022
Application launch: 2 August 2021
Deadline for applications: 4 October 2021
Notification of acceptance: 4 November 2021
Cost of application: £25.00

We are looking for work from artists that demonstrate the absolute best in the technique they are working in.

Glorious Glass (Open show)
Venue: Craft Centre, Leeds
Exhibition dates: 19 April – 23 July 2022
Application launch: 22 November 2021
Deadline for applications: 28 February 2022
Notification of acceptance: 21 March 2022
Cost of application: £25.00

The aim is to demonstrate how utterly glorious and amazing contemporary glass is, so that everyone can appreciate and enjoy its magical colours, textures, use of light and variety of techniques, while at the same time discovering local glass artists. The work displayed will feature as wide a range of techniques as possible. Each artist will explain why glass is glorious to them and why they have chosen the pieces on display to express that passion for their chosen material.

Joyful Reflections (Selected show)
Venue: New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
Exhibition dates: 30 April – 11 June 2022
Application launch: 6 September 2021
Deadline for applications: 10 January 2022
Notification of acceptance: 1 February 2022
Cost of application: £25.00

Lives have been turned upside down since March 2020.  We have experienced highs and lows, fear and boredom, illness and isolation. Through it all, acting as a solace, has been the sanctuary of our work and the beauty of the material that we work with. We invite you to step back from the sadness of the pandemic and to embrace the joy of life as we know it now. Reflect upon the glorious and mysterious properties of glass – its transparency, its uniqueness, the variety of techniques it offers, its ability to reflect, and to express joyful reflections on life and glass!

Earth/Sea/Sky (Selected show)
Venue: London Glassblowing, London
Exhibition dates: 25 June – 15 July 2022
Application launch: 16 August 2021
Deadline for applications: 25 February 2022
Notification of acceptance: 21 March 2022
Cost of application: £25.00

Create work that is a celebration of the natural world in which we live – EARTH/SEA/SKY.  This response can take the form of:
Combining different glass making techniques yourself to create a new piece of glass work;
Collaborating with another member who uses a different glass technique to create a joint piece of work;
Combining different materials or found objects yourself to create a new piece of glass work (at least 50% must be glass);
Collaborating with another artist from a different discipline to create a joint piece of work in different materials (at least 50% must be glass).

Holiday Heaven – a Postcard from the Commonwealth (Open show)
Venue: International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge
Exhibition dates: 26 August – 23 September 2022
Application launch: 28 February 2022
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2022
Notification of acceptance: 30 April 2022
Cost of application: FREE

One of the impacts of the pandemic has been that many of us are still wary of venturing abroad, so let your imagination take you around the world. In this year of the Commonwealth Games, let’s celebrate the diversity and richness of the 54 countries and 14 territories that make up the Commonwealth, in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. Take a magical mystery tour and send us a postcard from a richness of countries, ranging from Australia to Zambia, from Bangladesh to Malta, from Brunei Darussalam to Vanuatu.

Bedazzled – 25 glass makers impress (Selected show)
Venue: Pyramid Gallery, York
Exhibition dates: 10 September – 30 October 2022
Application launch: 10 January 2022
Deadline for applications: 1 April 2022
Notification of acceptance: 28 April 2022
Cost of application: £10 to apply + £30 if accepted

The meaning of ‘bedazzle’ is “to greatly impress (someone) with outstanding ability or striking appearance”.  What more could anyone ask for in a glass show to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the Contemporary Glass Society? We invite you to provide us with glasswork that dazzles us with your technique and the quality of your work! Show us why glass is such a precious material to work with. You could even introduce an element of silver to bedazzle us and help us commemorate our 25-year Silver Jubilee.

Razzle Dazzle (Open show)
Venue: Pyramid Gallery, York
Exhibition dates: 10 September – 30 October 2022
Application launch: 7 February 2022
Deadline for applications: 9 May 2022
Notification of acceptance: 30 May 2022
Cost of application: FREE

After a couple of years with little live entertainment, let’s add a little razzle dazzle to our lives and celebrate what we love to watch or take part in. It could be a night at the opera, your favourite Bacall/Bogart film, the end of pier show, partying in Ibiza, a family barbeque or simply watching a flock of soaring birds. We want a bit of showiness, a flash of brilliance, a little decorative loveliness, even a little opulence, to enhance our spirits and make us smile with joyfulness! We invite you to make a little piece of eye-catching beauty in glass – a colourful celebration of live entertainment to make our hearts beat faster. (Size: 15 x 11cm maximum).

CGS at 25 (Selected show)
Venue: Vessel Gallery, London
Exhibition dates: September – October 2022
Further details will be announced in due course.

Image: Glassblowing. Photo: Jan Canty.

New Stourbridge Glass Museum to open in 2022

Many years of effort are coming to fruition soon, with the opening of the new Stourbridge Glass Museum (formerly known as the White House Cone Museum of Glass) scheduled for April 2022.

Following the announcement of the closure of Broadfield House Glass Museum (2015), the British Glass Foundation (BGF)* has been working to achieve its vision of creating a new museum to celebrate 400 years of quality glass making in the Dudley, West Midlands, area of the UK.

The aim of the BGF has been to convert the former Grade II listed Stuart Crystal Glassworks site in Wordsley into a world-class visitor attraction for the Glass Quarter, with exhibition and education spaces, a hot glass studio, and a home for the internationally renowned Stourbridge glass collection.

The Stourbridge glass collection numbers over 10,000 glass items, ranging from ancient glass to contemporary glass, glassmaking machinery, equipment, and extensive archive materials.

The collection is hailed by the BGF as “one of the finest world-wide holdings of British and international 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century glass, and includes exceptional examples of cameo glass, the speciality of Stourbridge factories at the end of the 19th century”.

A new website has just been launched for the Stourbridge Glass Museum: https://stourbridgeglassmuseum.org.uk , where you can find out more about the facilities and book two free tours in September 2021.

One is a walking tour of the Glass Quarter, covering the people and companies that put Stourbridge glass on the map (16 September 2021), while the other offers a preview tour of the new Stourbridge Glass Museum before it opens to the public on 9 April 2022 (this tour takes place on 18 September 2021).

Further glass-related information will be added to the website over time, with the aim of making it a major resource for glass enthusiasts and researchers.

Funding for the new Stourbridge Glass Museum has come from many sources. Graham Knowles, BGF chairman, named some when he commented on the project’s progress: “This is fantastic news. After more than 10 years of effort, which would not have been possible without the unflinching support of our sponsors, backers and partners, especially Dudley MBC, European Regional Development Fund, National Heritage Lottery Fund and Complex Development Projects Ltd, we are almost there.

“It is also thanks to you, the public, that we are now touchingly close to achieving our ultimate ambition of finally opening the ‘People’s Museum’ that provides a new home for the internationally renowned Stourbridge glass collection.”

Stourbridge Glass Museum is based at: Stuart Works, High Street, Stourbridge DY8 4FB, UK. (Please note that it is not opening to the public until April 2022.)

* “The British Glass Foundation is an enabling body bringing together all relevant and independent glass and cultural organisations and private individuals, in our common aim to protect and save the glass, archive and technical collections previously held at Broadfield House Glass Museum, and to ensure their future display to the public, access for research and continued growth.”

Image: The entrance to the new Stourbridge Glass Museum. Photo: Daniel Sutton.

New eBook on low temperature kilnforming

Glasgow-based glass expert Stephen Richard has released a new eBook to help intermediate-level glass artists overcome the problems of low temperature kilnforming.

Low temperature kiln work is difficult, but Richard has distilled his long experience into this detailed book. His knowledge is based on a lifelong fascination with glass, courses with glass masters, involvement with several glass organisations and successful management of the Verrier glass studio.

‘Low Temperature Kilnforming’ examines the reasons for failures and finds a range of reasons relating to elements of the layup. An even greater number of problems are related to scheduling.

Richard combines his long experience of diagnosis with his latest research on scheduling for low temperature firings. The results of his investigations into tack fused, and other low temperature, kilnforming are covered in this book.

It provides approaches to diagnosis and scheduling.  The results of the research are outlined, and the results are presented in innovative schedules.

In addition, there are massive amounts of information in the appendices, which are accessed via links from the main text.

Many illustrations and inspirational images are included, too.

There are schedules for various profiles of tack fusing, slumping, draping, bending, bas relief, sintering, and freeze and fuse. Separate schedules are shown for Celsius and Fahrenheit users.

Bob Leatherbarrow comments: “I’ve had a good look at Stephen’s book. In my opinion firing projects at low temperatures, particularly slumping, are some of the most challenging processes in kilnformed glass. Stephen combines practical experience and research to enable artists to develop a better understanding of what is happening in their kiln. A valuable resource in our quest to banish the practice of praying to the kiln gods and goddesses.”

The book is available to download through Verrier Studio on Etsy via this link, or directly from Stephen Richard via email: stephen.richard43@gmail.com

‘Low Temperature Kilnforming; an Evidence-Based Approach to Scheduling’, by Stephen Richard.  2021, 295pp.  177 illustrations, 97 graphs and tables, index.

Image: Detail of the cover of the eBook ‘Low Temperature Kilnforming’.

Contemporary glass exhibition in Conques, France

Contemporary glass is taking centre stage at the summer exhibition of the art collective Dare D’art, beneath the town hall in Conques, France.

The event is on until 22 August 2021.

Ten members of the group are displaying a broad range of innovative work using a variety of glass techniques. The glass artists are: Roselyne Blanc-Bessière, Serge Boularot, Martine Bruggeman, Sylvie Freycenon, Matthieu Gicquel, Corinne Joachim, Jeounghee Kim, Jacques Pineau, Antoine Rault and Myriam Thomas.

Two of the members, who joined the group in 2021, Myriam Thomas and Jeounghee Kim, bring an international dimension to the event this time.

Conques, known as one of the most beautiful villages in France, is situated in the heart of the Aveyron region.

Between 1987 and 1994, the artist Pierre Soulages researched and created over 95 monochrome windows for the abbey church in Conques, establishing the area’s strong relationship with art that remains today.

The contemporary glass of the Dare D’art collective has been exhibited in Conques since 2010.

The show is on every day from now until 22 August, from 10am to 1pm and 2.30pm until 7pm. Entry is free and some of the artists are on hand to speak to visitors.

Conques is located at 12320, Aveyron, France. Find out more here: www.asso-daredart.fr

Image: ‘Tsukuyomi’, by Matthieu Gicquel, in collaboration with Aurore Bouter for the gold leaf.

Putting on the Glitz

Highly accomplished glass artist KeKe Cribbs uses a broad range of glass and sculptural techniques to create exquisite, sparkly treasures that captivate her audience. Here she speaks to CGS Glass Network digital’s editor, Linda Banks, about her processes and inspirations.

What led you to start working with glass?
I was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico and working in a gallery when I discovered a book on the prehistoric Mimbres peoples. They painted black and white imagery on pottery. I fell in love with the simple, narrative style and, riffing off of it, I began making pen and ink drawings of contemporary life in Santa Fe. The drawings were full of humour and the gallery where I worked offered to show the work in a two-person show.

During the opening of that show, an architect and his wife offered me a commission; if I could figure out how to get my drawings onto glass, they wanted me to put imagery on all the glass cabinet doors in their kitchen. After some research, I discovered acid paste and took on the commission. I had never thought about glass as a creative material, but the discovery led me to learn about sandblasting and engraving. Eventually, it took me on to glass blowers and the whole big world of glass, just when it was really taking off in the 1980s. I landed up at Pilchuck Glass School in 1984.

KeKe Cribbs in the studio, creating her latest mixed media artwork.

What glass techniques have you used in your career and why do you prefer reverse fired enamels today?
I spent many years perfecting my sand carving and engraving skills. I started out working on forms that were gaffed for me in blown glass, but eventually moved on to working more with flat glass, which I incorporated into sculptural work. This allowed me to work much larger. It also required me to learn many other skills so that I could work in sculptural materials, such as wood, metal and concrete.

I loved the pieces that I made, but I was frustrated with the work being so light dependent. Ultimately, I wanted more colour. I explored reverse painting on the glass with oils and sign painting enamels, which are semi stable. The vitreous enamels offered more stability and also the advantage of truly transparent colours. Although my reverse paintings on glass appear opaque, they are comprised of many layers, which are built up with transparent colours to create greater depth. There are no colours in art that are as rich as a reverse-painted piece of glass! And I can cut up my paintings to use for mosaics … It’s perfect!

This Boat piece, ‘Caitlin’, was a recent commission (2021). The other side is shown in the main feature image. It is made using reverse fired enamels on glass, glass mosaics, thin shell concrete, painted wood and sheet aluminium.

Can you tell us something about how you developed your working methods? Do you draw your designs out or dive in with the materials?
I have the dual personality of wanting to be loose and intuitive and, at the same time, I am precise and attracted to pattern. I think all of my work displays a bit of both. I used to be more precise when drawing on the glass; I would make drawings on paper which would sit under the glass as a guide. I don’t do that now.

My tendency is to blacken the glass with enamel, building up texture using a brush, palette knife, etc, and then rubbing off most of the enamel. This leaves traces and patterns where the enamel was thicker. Then I may see an image in the marks that remain and start to build it out from there, using quill pens and brushes. I also do a lot of sgraffito to refine my drawing lines and create hash marks and shadows. It’s a more intuitive way of drawing and working.

Of course, if I am making a boat or something like that, I need to be an engineer and a craftsman to build that part out from scratch, and that is a more exacting part of the work. Everything I do takes a very long time.

This Boat piece is called ‘MaiWai’ (2014). It measures 23″ x 32″ x 9.5″.
Detail from ‘MaiWai’ Boat piece.

Who or what inspires you?
Oddly, textiles would be at the top of my list: all things ancient, all things primitive, all things finely crafted. I am enamoured of ancient gold works from Rome, Greece, South America, Africa and around the world. Much of that work has both pattern and texture, just as an exquisitely embroidered medieval garment might, so that is part of it. The Surrealist and Dada painters, Nick Cave, and quite a bit of electronic music … I guess I take influences from all over the place.

What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?
Well, I have to have a kiln if I am firing enamels on glass. Next to that, it would be my Toyo glass cutters and mini glass mosaic nippers, my quill pens and liner brushes and awl for sgraffito. It would be hard to manage without all those things.

A lot of your work has a dreamlike quality. What message(s) do you want to convey to your audience through your artwork?
As a person who works intuitively, I don’t really start out with an exact concept. Rather, I have an emotion, which seems to be realised through imagery that becomes symbolic. In that sense, it is like sharing a dream. As with a film, or a great novel, imagery can convey mystery and emotion that the viewer personalises and turns into their own story. That is what interests me.

‘Bumble’ (2021) uses torn linen, gold paint, reverse fired enamels on glass and mosaics, mounted on board.

You opened the Treasure Trove Art space in 2017. What led you to this decision and how has it impacted artists?
My main sources of income had been The Scott Jacobson Gallery in New York (originally Leo Kaplan Modern), and the big Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design (SOFA) fair. So, when Scott closed the gallery and the American elections happened and brought chaos, I decided to try and do something different.

I found a tiny space for rent in a non-profit building that was designed to help small businesses get a head start. The model I created gave the artist 70% of sales. I combined all kinds of treasures in one 11 x 12-foot space. I mixed my own, more expensive, works with small originals by teenagers and newcomers and a big price range. I wanted to give creativity a chance and to encourage ‘making’. I also had books and freely gave technical advice to the curious.

As an adjunct, I also managed a larger rental gallery, where people could have their own shows of work that they might not be able to show in a normal gallery setting. The glass artist Dick Marquis rented the space and put on a terrific exhibition of his framed Collections of Stuff; it was fabulous!

In my heart, I just wanted to encourage freedom of expression and give people a place to do that. Sadly, it only lasted one year, as I could not afford to keep it going.

Do you have a favourite piece you have made? Why is it your favourite?
That is a tough question! Every so often, I make a piece I just want to keep, because I have made some breakthrough on it, which really means I have bypassed what the galleries are expecting or wanting.

For years, I wanted to make more wall pieces and do more painting on glass, only to be discouraged by their insistence on more large pedestal pieces. With the amount of work that goes into my pieces, I cannot possibly compete with blown work, which is the king of pedestal pieces in a glass gallery; one of my Boat pieces can take two-to-three months to make!

‘Celestina the Moon Queen’ (2020) is a recent mosaic piece. It stands 40″ tall and is comprised of reverse fired enamels on glass mosaics, crystal, copper, thin shell concrete and painted wood.

So, when I can let go of the little voice inside that tries to lead me in ONE direction, I can celebrate. I am in the middle of just such a moment with my new glass and linen wall pieces. They are all attached to one wall piece from 2010 that I keep in my bedroom, titled ’Raggedy Man DownUnder’; that is how long it has taken me to finally return to what I might call collaging with glass on a flat surface. I also call it ‘Painting with Glass Inclusions’, partly because I feel that gives me the most freedom to use my materials however I want.

KeKe’s newest work, ‘Carnelian Patois’ (2021), uses torn linen, paint, mirror shards and reverse fired enamels.

Where do you show and sell your work?
I guess I am in a transition moment. As I said, some of the galleries have closed or changed too much for me to feel at home there. I have had galleries contacting me since 1980 but, in the last five or six years, everything has changed as economies struggle.

Currently, I have a show scheduled for August 2021 at BAC [Bainbridge Arts and Crafts] on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. BAC is a non-profit gallery that invites artists from all over the Northwest to put on interesting exhibitions. Debora Ruzinsky, the new Executive Director, has given me free rein to make whatever I want. So I am!

I have spent the last eight months exploring my desire to make ‘Paintings with Glass Inclusions’ and I am really excited about seeing all the work hanging together in one space. It should be quite luminescent and sparkly. Then, perhaps I will look for a more permanent relationship with a gallery that loves my work.

‘Linty Pockets’ (2021) is an example of KeKe’s recent exploration of ‘Painting with Glass Inclusions’. This mosaic painting features reverse fired enamels on glass mosaics, paint and wood.

Do you have a career highlight?
That would be my first show of Mimbres drawings, which got me started… and every one-person show after that. And also some grand commission works, such as a full-sized door for a New York apartment.

How has the coronavirus impacted your practice?
Interestingly, it has caused issues with me getting supplies, which has pushed me to use only what I have at hand. That, in turn, has spurred me into my current work of using linen and glass as materials for paintings. The same aspects that made it confining are the ones that gave me freedom; no small irony there! Certainly, there is a lack of outside distractions, which also helps to keep one in the studio.

Now I can see my daughter Alicia Lomne again, I feel centred; that was the hardest part. I am just looking forward and I am glad to use my time as well as possible. I make art, garden, pet my cats and hold my family dear and close. What else is there?

About the artist
KeKe Cribbs was born in Colorado in 1951. She lived in Ireland, France, Corsica and New Mexico before making her home on Whidbey Island after attending Pilchuck Glass School in 1984.

She has taught at Pilchuck Glass School and the Penland School of Crafts and, in 1986, she started a Glass teaching programme at the Swain School of Design, which later became Southeastern Massachusetts University (SMU) in South Dartmouth.

She has also taught workshops at the Toyama Institute of Glass Art (TIGA), in Japan, and participated in the Stourbridge Glass Festival in the UK in 2019.

Her work had been collected internationally, by the Corning Glass Museum, NY, the L.A. County Museum, CA, the Racine Art Museum, WI, Tacoma Art Museum and Tacoma Glass Museum, WA, and the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan.

Find out more about KeKe and her work on her website: https://kekecribbs.com

Luxembourg glass festival features artist demonstrations

The 9th International Glass Festival 2021 Luxembourg takes place from 19-22 August 2021. The event will present a juried glass symposium and exhibition, featuring glass artists and students from Europe and farther afield, to celebrate contemporary glass art.

Professional artists and students from around the world will demonstrate their skills in glass blowing, casting, pâte de verre, fusing, slumping, bead making, mosaics, stained glass, Tiffany technique, glass painting, sand blasting, grinding, carving etc.

The glass blowing demonstration will use a furnace transformed from an old water barrel by Dutch glass artist Ed van Dijk.

Artists and students working with glass will come together to share their experiences with glass.

Lectures and discussions will be followed by an exhibition of artworks from the international glass scene.

The public will be able to interact with international glass artists, schools and academies and find out about the many different glass techniques.

There will be workshops for both adults and children on 21 and 22 August, featuring glass fusing, glass beads, mosaic, glass recycling, clay and pâte de verre.

This year’s glass artist participants are:
BELGIUM – Alfred Collard, Daniel Olislagers, Patrick Van Tilborgh
BULGARIA – Lachezar Dochev, Elizar Milev
CZECH REPUBLIC – Petr Stacho, Jirí Šuhájek, Vladimir Klein, Zuzana Kubelkova
ENGLAND – Julie Anne Denton, Michèle Oberdieck
ESTONIA – Kairi Orgusaar
FRANCE – Julie Gonce
GERMANY – Patrick Roth, Alexandra Geyermann, Elke Mank, Hermann Ritterswürden, Torsten Rötzsch, Samuel Weisenborn
HUNGARY – Amala Gyöngyvér Varga
ISRAEL – Louis Sakalovsky
JAPAN – Takeshi Ito
LATVIA – Zaiga Baiza Emeringer,  Baiba Dzenīte, Inita Ēmane, Agnese Gedule, Dainis Gudovskis, Ieva Birgele
LITHUANIA – Remigijus Kriukas, Paulius Rainys
LUXEMBOURG – Robert Emeringer, Linda da Costa
NEDERLAND – Ed Van Dijk, JanHein van Stiphout
POLAND – Aleksandra Kujawska
RUSSIA – Alexander Fokin, Taisiia Fokina, Igor Frolov, Andrey Molchanovskiy
SLOVAKIA – Andrej Németh

Students taking part are:
BULGARIA – Yana Sergeeva Ermakova, Alisa Stoilova, Kristin Emilova Vasileva
LATVIA – Santa Bekmane, Toms Cīrulis, Liene Knēta, Anastasia Pelna
LITHUANIA – Modestas Barštys

The event takes place at: Atelier d’Art du Verre, Heppchesgaass 2, L-9940 Asselborn, Luxembourg.

More information from: remering@pt.lu

Image: Activities and artworks from the 2019 event.