Emerging glass artist Chris Day is making his debut at Vessel Gallery, with a solo exhibition running from 28 September to 31 October 2020. His highly personal pieces discuss and investigate the treatment of black people in Britain and the USA, making his artworks powerful and thought provoking.
Chris Day says, “Like the glass, I have pushed my approach in how I work with glass and ceramics in both traditional and experimental methods, to create contemporary artworks that represent my passion for this part of our history. As a black glassblower, I am one of few, and on a quest to find and inspire more. My main purpose, however, is to engage the audience on issues that are hard to confront on many levels, using art to help overcome some of the traumas that haunt our collective past.”
Vessel Gallery is at 114 Kensington Park Rd, London W11 2PW, and the exhibition is open from Monday to Friday, 11am to 5pm.
Feature image: Blown, Bound and Bold, by Chris Day. Second image: Emmett Till, by Chris Day. Photo credits: Ester Segarra.
Applications are now invited for the Christmas edition of Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair online.
Time is short to apply as the closing date is midnight on Sunday 4 October 2020.
The event will run online from 21-22 November 2020.
Great Northern Events, a not for profit organisation, organises the portfolio of Great (& Little) Contemporary Craft Fairs in the North of England. All exhibitors are selected for their excellence in their craft by an expert panel, to sell their work to the public and trade. It is in its 13th year.
Applications are welcomed from both new and established designer-makers and artists from across the UK and further afield, working in glass, ceramics, jewellery, interior textiles, fashion design & accessories, print-making, wood, lighting, furniture, product design, metal, basket-making and more.
A selection of exciting glass courses is on offer at the Glass Hub in Wiltshire, UK, in the closing months of 2020 and into 2021. Why not book a class with an expert glassmaker and give yourself something to look forward to that will also enhance your skills? Have a look at the choices below:
8 to 11 October 2020: Experimenting with Colour Dropouts with Ruth Shelley
14 to 16 October 2020: Advanced Pattern Making in Glass Masterclass with Ian Chadwick
8 to 9 November 2020: Colour and Form Masterclass with Katherine Huskie
11 to 13 November 2020: Fusing Doesn’t have to be Flat with Nina Casson McGarva
20 to 22 January 2021: Form to Fuse Masterclass with Andrea Spencer
1 to 5 February 2021: Flexible Fusing Masterclass with Matthew Szösz
8 to 12 February 2021: Advanced Pattern Making in Glass Masterclass with Ian Chadwick
2 to 5 March 2021: Collage for Kiln Casting with Georgia Redpath
12 to 14 March 2021: Hot Glass Sculpture with James Devereux
30 March to 1 April 2021: Graal Masterclass with Sonja Klingler & Ruth Dresman
21 to 23 April 2021: Printing Techniques for Glass with Philippa Beveridge
14 to 16 May 2021: Fusing with the ‘Wow’ Factor with Opal Seabrook
25 to 28 May 2021: Kiln Casting Glass Masterclass with Fiaz Elson
11 to 17 September 2021: The Perfect Vessel Masterclass with Karl Harron
29 September – 1 October 2021: Follow the Torch – Hot Glass Masterclass with Elliot Walker
14 to 17 October 2021: The Freedom of the ‘One-Off’ – Ice Casting Masterclass with Joseph Harrington
In addition to these classes, the Glass Hub has a programme of courses for less advanced students. All classes will be run in accordance with COVID-19 regulations. Find out more via the website: https://www.theglasshub.co.uk/glass-courses.html
Photo: Colony of Colonies by Georgia Redpath; Photo Credit: Simon Bruntnell.
As has happened with so many events recently, the 2021 International Festival of Glass and British Glass Biennale have been postponed and rescheduled for August 2022.
Speaking in September 2020, Janine Christley, the Festival Director, explained, “With the call to artists for the Biennale due to be launched in the next few weeks, we have had to make this difficult decision now, even though the festival is 11 months away. Our priority is to keep our artists and audience safe and the fact that the pandemic is still a significant global health concern creates uncertainty around international travel and exchange. We are also mindful that Glasshouse College, which hosts the festival, works with some of the UK’s most vulnerable young people.”
The Festival will now take place from 26-29 August 2022.
The theme remains East Asian glass and the artists from Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan who were scheduled to take part in the 2021 events, will attend in 2022 instead.
Make a note in your diary now to attend these highlights of the contemporary glass calendar in Stourbridge in 2022.
Photo: Monica Guggisberg, Biennale jury member, judging glass exhibits at the previous event. Credit: John Plant
Kirsteen Aubrey has taken over from Milly Frances as the new editor of Glass Network print edition. Here she explains her own glass journey and how she proposes to develop the CGS magazine.
While we may be a niche collective, we have significant value as creatives working with glass. My aim as Editor is to share the value of what we do, from our inspiration to create work, through to our experimentation with ideas and process, to the final artefacts. Telling our stories will extend our glass community, reaching out to other creatives, enthusiasts and buyers, to celebrate our work with us.
I believe that in articulating the narratives and motivations behind our individual glass practice, we promote the value, creative potential and technical mastery involved in producing our glasswork to the public. Motivators such as culture, identity, politics and sustainability may be key features, yet each of us interacts with different agendas, or the same agenda, in different ways. Capturing and sharing your stories is central to the success of Glass Network, and a main driver for my desire to become Glass Network print Editor. Do get in touch with me to share your own ideas and inspirations.
My personal practice spans 30 years (eek!) and has involved a range of glass processes, including kiln, lamp and blown glass. My work was exhibited in the retrospective at National Glass Centre, celebrating their 21st anniversary. Exhibiting as one of 60 strong glass makers, the works represented “artists who have helped develop the city’s reputation for excellence in glass”(Sunderland Echo, 16 April 2019).
Collaboration has been a key interest in my glass practice, both between glass practitioners and with practitioners from diverse disciplines. Each collaboration provides new experiences and challenge, relying on an openness and trust to create new work. Each resulted in outcomes that explored the agency of glass as a creative medium. Here, I have collaborated across glass and crochet, exhibited in ‘Pairings’ at Contemporary Applied Arts (2012), and later combining textiles and lampworked glass with Alice Kettle to create an installation for VAS:T at the Royal Scottish Academy. In subsequent collaborations I have worked with a haiku poet, an astrophysicist and photographers.
Recent work includes developing hand-blown lenses for photography, exploring ways of seeing. The results featured in ‘Radical Matters’ as part of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (2019), Milan Virtual Design festival (2020) and were captured on film for ‘Glass, Meet the Future’ (2020), a North Lands Creative initiative.
Ellie Miller, who co-owned the Miller Gallery in the USA with her husband, Bob, died on 1 September 2020 after a long battle with colon cancer. Ellie and Bob championed the work of British and Irish glass artists, encouraging them to showcase their art in their gallery from the 1980s onwards.
Their first gallery, The Studio Glass Gallery of Great Britain, was established in Montclair, New Jersey, in the mid-1980s, before moving to Manhattan and becoming the Miller Gallery. It was responsible for bringing UK artists, such as David Reekie, Keith Cummings and Colin Reid to the attention of American glass collectors.
Ellie previously held roles as a director of UrbanGlass and the Creative Glass Center of America. She and Bob participated in many SOFA and Wheaton Glass Weekend events until they closed their gallery.
One of the glass artists whose career in the USA was boosted by Ellie’s support, David Reekie, adds his own tribute:
It was with great sadness that we have heard the news that Ellie Miller has died.
Through their gallery in New Jersey, Bob and Ellie created a valuable stepping-stone for many young British and Irish glass artists into the United States.
The 1980s represented an important time for contemporary glass in the UK, as glass courses in art colleges were thriving and galleries specialising in glass art were opening their doors.
Ellie and Bob Miller crossed the pond to attend British Artists in Glass conferences and made many friends by encouraging young artists to show their work in the States.
In the late 1980s they moved the gallery to central New York, establishing the Miller Gallery on Broadway. It became a very important international gallery specialising in sculptural glass art, but still remembered its roots and continued to exhibit the work of British creatives.
Ellie and Bob retired in 2001. Ellie was a wonderful, happy and encouraging woman and she will be missed by the glass community.
When Milly Frances left her role as the extremely capable Editor of the CGS Glass Network magazine in June, the members of committee wanted to show their appreciation of her hard work over 10 years. Knowing she was keen on gardening and nature, the perfect gift was a garden voucher that she could use to buy a tree for her garden.
As Milly comments on her purchase: “This Irish Oak is pretty special on lots of levels:
it reminds me of lovely CGS as it was given to me as a leaving gift (thank you, I never did like carriage clocks);
its resilience gives me hope and
it’s the Best-Looking Oak in The Lane. It’s down by the wildlife pond that is now home to its first frog. How is it possible that I used to be an urbanite?”
Since stepping down from editing Glass Network Milly says she has been both teacher and student, “both online, and both energy-inspiring”.
“All the while CGS has been doing a sterling job helping us convert this bubble of warped time into something creative. Thank you for that and for my special tree,” she concludes.
Glass Network digital is the magazine section of the CGS website. This is where you can catch up with all the latest news about contemporary glass, as well as read more in-depth features about the work of some talented glass artists.
This online resource complements the longstanding and well-respected print edition of Glass Network magazine, which all CGS members receive as part of their membership package. If you are not a member, please consider joining us! You do not have to be a practising glass artist – you just need to have an interest in glass.
We decided to introduce this digital magazine to provide a vibrant and up-to-date means of quickly communicating exciting developments in the glass world to our members, the wider art community and the general public around the globe.
Glass Network digital has two sections – one for features and one for news items. In the features part you will find longer articles focused on topics including interviews with interesting practitioners in contemporary glass, both new and established, as well as content from related fields, such as specialist glass photographers and creative business advice. It aims to be a mix of the inspirational and the practical.
Alongside these more in-depth features is the news section, where we share the latest happenings in the contemporary glass arena – from exhibiting opportunities to gallery openings, virtual events to competitions.
Each month, we share links to the new content with members via our newsletter (another good reason to join ;)).
There are also advertising opportunities, including the button advert in the digital magazine section, sponsored article content and enhanced listings in the Resources section.
This is your magazine, so if you have an idea for a feature or news, do get in touch. We can’t guarantee to use everything offered, but we are open to your suggestions. We need at least one good quality image (landscape orientation) supplied with news pieces.
Who should you contact?
For Glass Network digital, contact the Editor, Linda Banks: linda@wordbanks.uk
For Glass Network print magazine, contact the Editor, Kirsteen Aubrey: editor@cgs.org.uk
For membership and advertising queries, contact Pam Reekie: admin@cgs.org.uk
Up-and-coming glass artist Kaja Upelj wants to project a welcoming and warm feeling in her work – to dispel the sense that glass is cold and brittle. She invites us to understand more about her story through her evolving glass practice.
The movement of hot glass, its fluidity and softness as it was worked by a master craftsman, captivated Kaja Upelj as a child on a trip to Murano in Italy. Since then, she has always seen glass as “an intriguing material, which I never defined as cold and fragile”. This experience inspired her belief that glass would be the perfect material with which to express herself.
Years later, she carried through her conviction, completing a Masters degree in Glass at the Royal College of Art and winning awards and scholarships to develop her original, luminous glass process.
Otherworldly Bodies: Kalopsia
“My methods and ways of working have changed tremendously over time,” she says. “I have focused a lot on exploring glass qualities through various techniques and ideas. I want to have a great understanding of the material because I am convinced it is the only way to find a common language with it.”
For her, the most important aspect of her research has been to observe how glass acts, moves and lives, so that now she has “harmonised my poetic expression with the laws of the material”.
Her focus is not so much on what technique she uses, but on how to translate the image in her mind into a real object of art. The techniques are just the tools making that happen. The materials she chooses vary considerably and are governed by the feel of the collection itself. Her collections ‘Otherworldly Bodies’ and ‘Subtle Flow’ are strikingly different from one another.
Welcoming feeling
She describes her work as minimalistic with an element of fluidity. “Unrestricted lines and movement give the individual the opportunity to interpret it in their own way. The most important aspect I wish my art to express is a welcoming feeling.”
She adds, “I want the viewer to experience the material differently, to lose the belief that it is cold and brittle. With the tactile and silky surface, I hope to achieve interaction, inviting both familiarity and personal connection. I am interested in seeing how it affects people emotionally.”
In her collection ‘Subtle Flow’, Kaja researched and introduced a process involving dangerous chemicals. Her aim was to express the movement of glass when it is hot, enabling the observer to have a better understanding of what a soft and warm material glass can be.
Subtle Flow – detail
“I was exploring materials to subtly mark the path, which is captured within the glass object. When chemicals are introduced to liquefied glass, they reveal an iridescent sparkle, which captures the movement of glass and shows the working process clearly,” she expands.
“Each artwork I create consists of various emotions I experience during the working process and tells a different story about me.”
This quotation, from the Finnish designer and sculptor Tapio Wirkkala, underpins her approach: ‘All materials have their own unwritten laws. This is forgotten way too often. You should never be violent with a material you’re working on, and the designer should aim at being in harmony with his material.’
Support for emerging glass artists
As an emerging artist, Kaja is familiar with the struggle to buy expensive equipment, such as kilns or compressors. “I often search for second-hand equipment, as it can be priced more reasonably,” she says. However, she has received support for other areas of her work, having been a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) scholar in 2018. The funding from QEST enabled her to take up a placement at Corning Museum of Glass in the USA.
“Being a part of QEST family is a great honour!” she explains. “The amount of support you receive through events, art fairs, networking and QEST Magazine is incredible. Emerging artists often feel overwhelmed at the beginning of their career, so advice and opportunities from such institutions are greatly appreciated.”
She says she would encourage any artist who wants to create unconventional art and is looking for support and new avenues to apply to QEST.
At the Corning Museum of Glass, she spent time researching in the extensive Rakow Library and gained expert knowledge from the tutors and scientists. This invaluable experience helped her develop her glass projects.
Otherworldly Bodies: Mangata
Another benefit from the QEST experience was being able to exhibit with the organisation at Collect, the International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design, at Somerset House in London earlier in 2020.
Kaja has continued to build her profile, having exhibited with Officine Saffi and Miart in Milan, the travelling design event Nomad Circle, and Milan Design Week. She also took part in the British Glass Biennale and other exhibitions across Europe.
For her, the most challenging part being an artist who works with glass is to get this artwork recognised in other sectors of art, rather than just as a craft. As she points out, “To create glass artwork is indeed very skilful, but it is often expressing more than just an interesting technique; it expresses a story, a concept.”
This is the message Kaja will carry with her as she travels the world with her glowing creations.
Feature image: Subtle Flow.
About the artist
Kaja Upelj is a Slovenian artist working between Slovenia and the United Kingdom. She holds a Masters in Glass from the Royal College of Art and has won numerous awards and scholarships to develop her original, luminous glass process safely. She was a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Scholar and one of the global emerging young talents at New Horizons 2018 in China.
She has exhibited across Europe, showing her work at art fairs such as Collect, Miart, Nomad Circle and Milan Design Week.
If you have an idea for a piece of bespoke art for your home or business, where do you start with commissioning it? Here are some tips to help you get that special work of art.
While you can purchase a glass artwork from an exhibition, gallery or shop, whether online or in person, sometimes what is on offer does not quite suit your needs. Perhaps you really like the style of the artist but the piece is of a size or colour that won’t fit with your home or office space. Perhaps you want a piece of wall art for a specific location, but the last one in an exhibition has been sold.
Maybe a friend or loved one is due to celebrate a milestone birthday or anniversary and you know exactly what they would like as a truly personal gift. Maybe your office space needs a unique, statement piece for inside or outside, or a series of awards for a business or corporate venture?
This is the time to consider commissioning a new artwork, to be made especially for you, direct from the artist. Many artists are willing to make a special piece that will meet your needs precisely and they enjoy the challenge of doing something bespoke.
Commissioning a glass artist
Commissioning a glass artist or designer to produce a work of art can be highly enjoyable for both parties. You will find both the work and the experience personal and unique. Your piece will be specifically produced for you, to your requirements. Each commission will vary according to the commissioner, artist, situation and circumstance, but it will be a process you will find rewarding. It is the best feeling knowing that your finished, exclusive artwork has been lovingly created and nobody else has the same.
Where to start with commissioning glass
Below are some simple steps to consider when commissioning a unique piece of glass:
Put some thought into what first prompted the commission;
Develop your brief and your idea;
Research what you are looking for and the potential artists who could help;
Check testimonials or feedback from the artists’ past clients;
Review portfolios of work and case studies on their websites;
Consider the location of the artist and whether you will want to meet in person or collaborate remotely;
Make contact with some artists who you think fit your brief;
Discuss ideas and budgets with them;
Choose the artist whose ideas and methods best match your requirements;
Make a clear agreement or contract, which should include the fee, deposit and payment structure, fabrication process/site visits, delivery, installation, timescale, maintenance and ownership.
Ask about how you will review progress; agree how much involvement will you have;
Await completion and delivery;
Enjoy your unique artwork.
When discussing your idea with the artist, they should find out what it is you are looking for in detail, introduce their own past portfolio and then proceed in a way that suits the commission or project. This may include them offering their own ideas or thoughts on the design and its practicality, a potential budget, something similar that they may have done before, or drawings or samples of work.
Remember that communication is important and both parties must keep in touch for the duration of the project. On your part, you need to check progress, answer questions and approve or correct details promptly. On their part, they should be updating you regularly, possibly with a photographic record, and letting you know if there are issues that could push the work back from the agreed timetable.
Whether you want a delicate vase or a large, stained glass window, the CGS has glass artists expert in all aspects of glass making. Have a look at the ‘Find a glass artist’ page, where you can select members based on name, glass discipline, location or product.
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Kaja Upelj is a Slovenian artist working between Slovenia and the United Kingdom. She holds a Masters in Glass from the Royal College of Art and has won numerous awards and scholarships to develop her original, luminous glass process safely. She was a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Scholar and one of the global emerging young talents at New Horizons 2018 in China.