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 researchexamining 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 reportMother 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 offorensic 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 Lowryis 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 theWarm Glass Prizein 2010, 2011 and 2017.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The winners of beautiful glass artworks have been drawn in the Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) latest fundraising raffle.
The raffle raised just over £1,500 which will help CGS fund some of the many exciting events scheduled for 2022 in our 25th anniversary year. Pam and Sue thank everyone who bought a ticket.
Special thank yous also go to the many glass artists who donated work as prizes. These are David Reekie, Peter Layton, Gillies Jones and Alan J Poole. A further eight prizes were donated from previous shows by Aneta Glowacka, Jacque Pavlosky, Linda Norris, David Frazer, Janet Wheeler, Dr Linda Smith, Myra Wishart and Paul Mellor, so thanks are extended to them too.
The prize winners are: Judy Menges (2 prizes); Mark Holford; Annette Sharkey; Anna Popkin; Stewart Hearn; Leigh Baildham; Bernadette Blair; Peter Fricker; Jane Mason; Rachel Craig and Isobel Brunsdon.
Image: Some of the prizes (left to right): ‘Thrower VI’ by David Reekie; detail of a signed sketch on a napkin by Dale Chihuly (16 x 15cm); ‘Turquoise Glacier’ by Peter Layton.
Detail of painted stained glass panel by Grace Ayson.
The latest application round for financial support from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is open now. If you need help to fund a course or expand your abilities in a new glass direction, why not tell QEST about your plans and see if they are willing to assist?
QEST awards scholarship and apprenticeship funding of up to £18,000 to talented and aspiring craftspeople working in a broad range of traditional and contemporary skills, including glass.
The current application round is open now until 16 August 2021.
Since it was founded in 1990, QEST has awarded over £5 million to 625 individuals working in over 130 different crafts. Many of these have been glass artists. Read about some of the previous glass artists who have benefitted from QEST funding in this recent Glass Network digitalfeature article.
Details on how to apply are provided on the QEST website: www.qest.org.uk.
Interested makers can also attend a Zoom ‘How To’ session to find out more about the application process and gain helpful tips on filling out the application forms. Glass artists can apply for either a scholarship or an apprenticeship. Sign up for ‘How To Apply For A QEST Scholarship’ on Wednesday 4 August, 4-5pm here. Or sign up for ‘ How To Apply For A QEST Apprenticeship’ on Tuesday 20 July, 4-5pm here.
If you aren’t ready to apply now, look out for the next application round, which will open in January 2022.
Image: Stained glass by Grace Ayson, one of several glass artists and conservators who received QEST funding in 2020.
Two years of hard work to make their glass practice as environment friendly as possible have paid off for glass artists Lynden Over and Christine Robb, who run Lava Glass in New Zealand. Their glassblowing studio has achieved carbon neutral certification and claims to be the first glassblowing studio in the world to have done so.
As many glass artists are aware, the act of turning sand into glass takes an incredible amount of heat. A furnace containing molten glass roars 24 hours a day, and a second furnace must be fired up to keep the molten glass moving. Reducing the environmental impact of a glass studio is, therefore, not an easy task.
However, the two artists were determined to do as much as they could.
“I wasn’t prepared to continue as a glass artist if I couldn’t do it in a sustainable way,” explains Lynden Over. “It has been a rewarding journey to convert the studio to carbon zero status and know that I am able to look after the planet while following my passion.”
In order to reduce their carbon footprint, and to sequester some of the carbon released in the making of their artworks, they converted their gas furnace to an electric one and used clean, green electricity to run it. They also changed over to electric cars.
For the carbon sequestration programme, they planted 100 hectares of pine trees and 25 hectares of New Zealand native trees. The native tree planting is part of an environmental benefit programme, which links pathways of native bush, creating wildlife corridors.
Waste reduction has also been a focus and in 2021 they have diverted 67% of Lava Glass waste away from landfill.
Because Lynden’s work is inspired by the rugged New Zealand landscapes, the couple felt it was important to be mindful of that environment.
Lava Glass’s carbon emissions are measured via independent auditing by Toitū Envirocare. This year, they had to offset 90.14 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent).
The next task is to drastically reduce these carbon emissions. They have developed a Greenhouse Gas emissions management plan with Toitū Envirocare, and have set reduction targets for the coming years.
Lynden and Christine are going the extra mile for sustainability and see their internationally-recognised Toitū carbon zero certification as an effective way to reduce their environmental impact. They strive to be at the forefront of environmentally-aware art making at Lava Glass.
Lava Glass is based in Taupo, New Zealand. It comprises a glass art gallery, glassblowing studio, glass sculpture garden and café. It was founded in 2002 and, over the years, Lynden has created an original range of collectable glassware and many award-winning works.
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