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Noticeboards Category: CGS News
New Event alert. Wednesday, 20th November at 7.30pm.
We are inviting you to take part in our next Wednesday Night Talk in November. “The Intuition of Analysis and the Analysis of Intuition”
will take place with Colin Rennie.
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Members via login
Non-members sign up at https://cgs.org.uk/join-today
If you need further details, please email admin@cgs.or.uk
⏰Wednesday, 23rd October at 7.30pm (British time)
📌“Dot to Dot” with Helen Twigge-Molecey
📝Helen Twigge-Molecey is an award-winning artist and designer who enjoys working in different mediums – especially glass – and has a studio near Brighton, England. She is interested in how you can effect change through a positive experience and underpinning her work is a desire to make it beautiful, simple, accessible and fun.
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#zoom #talks #lecture #artist #ArtistTalk #Community #JoinIn #Q&A
We heard today the sad news of the death of Iain Gunn. Iain was one of the founding members of North Lands Creative Glass and a driving force behind the development and expansion of the wonderful glass school and facility. We send our warmest regards to Iain’s wife Bunty, who is a joy to everyone she meets. I have so many fond memories of them both.
Together they worked hard with Dan Klein, Lord Bob Maclennan, Denis Mann and Alan J Poole to start the amazing project in the far North of Scotland, something we tragically dearly miss.
Pam Reekie.
2024 sees the last International Festival of Glass to be held at the Ruskin Centre in Stourbridge. The Contemporary Glass Society has been involved with the Festival since its inception.
As our time at the Ruskin Centre comes to an end and we look forward to the next era of the Festival, to celebrate the amazing journey we have all had, we asked our members to share their own memories.
Memories are magical moments that we treasure so join us in our last Postcard Show at the Ruskin Centre and visit a small treasure full of memories.
Over 100 CGS members took part in this fantastic and fun fundraising show. Over half the postcards sold in Stourbridge but we still have some amazing ones wanting to find a new home.
All work is for sale at affordable prices £50, £75 or £100. and 50% will go towards CGS events in 2025
Do take a look. https://cgs.org.uk/onlineexhibition/thanks-for-the-memory-postcards/
Please email admin@cgs.org.uk for enquiries about pieces.
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If you need any help with the online shows or socials, please email info@cgs.org.uk
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Contemporary Glass Society: “New Horizons.”
Exhibition at the Stourbridge Glass Museum –
13th July to 17th November 2024
Following on from CGS’s very successful and popular 25th Anniversary exhibition at the Stourbridge Glass Museum in 2022, we are delighted to be invited back and are returning to the Museum with our new exhibition “New Horizons”.
“New Horizons” runs for four months from 13th July to 17th November, 2024 and coincides with the Stourbridge based International Festival of Glass and Glass Biennale which takes place during the summer. The Stourbridge Glass Museum is an ideal venue to host this display of exemplary contemporary glass from CGS members and, alongside this stunning display of work, CGS is running supporting events including artist talks and an opportunity to meet some of the makers.
Meet the Makers on :
Penny Carter Totem Poles
Stourbridge Glass Museum opened in 2022 in the centre of the Stourbridge Glass Quarter. This world class venue houses over 500 items from the internationally renowned Stourbridge Glass Collection, celebrating the heritage of glassmaking in both the local area and internationally. In addition, the Museum also highlights the best in contemporary glass design,
The “New Horizons” exhibition will showcase both traditional methods of glass making along with modern techniques, all producing contemporary work that challenges and explores the boundaries of glass. All the work on show will be either be made especially for the exhibition or is work which has been made since 2022 but has not been previously exhibited. Consequently, “New Horizons” provides a unique opportunity to experience work never before seen in public.
A diverse range of glass making processes from hot glass, casting, kiln formed, pâte de verre, lampworking, neon, and stained glass will be represented by the following artists:
Anthony Amoako-Attah, Emma Baker, Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg, Heike Brachlow, Sarah Brown, Karen Browning, Penny Carter, James Devereux, Catherine Dunstan, Fiaz Elson, Dominic Fondé, Richard Jackson, Verity Pulford, Susan Purser Hope, Laura Quinn, Tim Rawlinson, Opal Seabrook, Ruth Shelley, Angela Thwaites, and Brian Waugh.
Tim Rawlinson Trewyn Light
This cornucopia of glass work reflects the dynamism and sheer talent of contemporary glass in this country and demonstrates how glass makers continue to develop and challenge our understanding of glass as an artistic medium.
The Contemporary Glass Society “New Horizons” exhibition is an opportunity to view and experience the best of British contemporary glass artists and should not be missed!
We are grateful to the Golsoncott Foundation for a grant towards this exhibition.
Winners have been announced from our live Exhibition at the International Festival of Glass.
Sponsored by Mark Holford and Alan J Poole
See available work Thanks For The Memory Available Postcards
Prize Winners
People’s Prize – Claire Hall, Remembering Devon
Best in Show – Nancy Sutcliffe, An Elephant never Forgets
Runner Up – Sue Purser Hope, Splash
Runner Up – Opal Seabrook, Snap Shot
Commended – Karen Lilley, Thank you for the venues and to the people who staffed them 2024
Alison Jardine, Star Gazing with Grandad
Helen Slater Stokes, Thank you Ruskin
Kate Jones, Green and Pleasant Land
Zara Johnson, Blooming Brilliant
We sold nearly half the postcards but there are still many wonderful ones left, which we hope to post on the website very soon.
View unsold postcards Thanks For The Memory Available Postcards
To buy any get in touch with admin@cgs.org.uk
On Wednesday, 23rd October at 7.30pm
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Helen Twigge-Molecey is an award-winning artist and designer who enjoys working in different mediums – especially glass – and has a studio near Brighton, England. She is interested in how you can effect change through a positive experience and underpinning her work is a desire to make it beautiful, simple, accessible and fun.
With a background as a TV director, Helen’s interests are eclectic – from the hand-made to the industrial and the functional to the fantastic. Her work ranges from toy and product design to conceptual art and large-scale public installations.
In her talk Helen will cover her fascination with fungi, exhibiting in Venice, building a studio, research projects, site specific installations, collaborations, kaleidoscopes, mentoring and more – not necessarily in that order but hopefully showing how it’s all interconnected and the dots join up.
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How to join in?
CGS Members: Use the Zoom link and password in your E-bulletin
Non-members: Sign up HERE and then please email admin@cgs.org.uk stating you are a new member and would like the link/password.
As a CGS member, you will then have unlimited access to over 100 artist/specialist talks. Listen at your leisure.
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Discovery Day at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Saturday, 7th December 10am to 5.15pm
LINK for tickets
Sponsored by
· the Victoria and Albert Museum https://www.vam.ac.uk/
· Pearsons Glass https://www.pearsons-glass.co.uk/
Be there and just be inspired!
The Contemporary Glass Society continues to expand horizons and take contemporary glass into the community through its iconic Discovery Days. CGS is the UK’s foremost organisation supporting both established glass artists and up-and-coming makers. Our mission and passion are to promote contemporary glass among the art world and wider public.
CGS returns to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for its final event of 2024.
Come along to our Discovery Day which is open to all! Join inspired glass artists and listen to their fascinating stories. Have time to meet and network with fellow makers and enthusiasts, explore the Museum’s winning galleries and be part of a memorable day.
DISCOVERY DAY PROGRAMME
on Saturday, 7th December, 2024
10.00am Museum opens. Registration & coffee
10.30am Welcome
10.45am ” You gotta grind while the grit’s runnin ! ” by Theo Brooks
11.45am “Like a Moth to a Flame: A Journey into Molten Glass Sculpting” by Laura Quinn
12.45pm Lunch & tour of galleries (1hr 30minutes)
2.15pm “Unlimited Restrictions” by Opal Seabrook
3.15pm Tea and coffee and networking
4.00pm “Glass Print and the Creative Journey – Layer by Layer” by James Cockerill
5.00pm Farewell
5.15pm End of day
5.45pm Museum closes
LOCATION:
The Hochhauser Auditorium, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RLTel: 0207 9422000
TICKETS:
CGS members admission to the event is £45 including booking fee and morning and afternoon refreshments.
There are 20 student tickets at £30 including booking fee and morning and afternoon refreshments.
Non CGS members £55 including booking fee and morning and afternoon refreshments.
All the tickets sold out for last year’s event and there was a waiting list. SO……Book early before we start promoting the event to the general public!
LINK for tickets
With thanks to our sponsor:
· the Victoria and Albert Museum https://www.vam.ac.uk/
· Pearsons Glass https://www.pearsons-glass.co.uk/
Speakers
” You gotta grind while the grit’s runnin! ” with Theo Brooks
Theo Brooks is a British Cypriot glass maker from London. His passion is creating contemporary reinventions of important ancient Cypriot artefacts as sculptures and installations, to represent his Cypriot culture and promote Cypriot arts. Alongside this, he blends his two cultures into the aesthetics of the objects, taking visual inspiration from growing up in south London. This connection to tradition, identity, ritual and history explored through such a challenging medium such as glass, gives a unique perspective on these cultural objects, which has not been investigated in depth before in glass.
Theo Brooks studied glass at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham and gained his Masters in Fine Art from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. He apprenticed in hot glass with Simon Moore, Smithbrook Glass Blowing Studio and Rothschild & Bickers Ltd, and studied glass cutting with Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg, in Paris, France. Theo has work in permanent collections and has exhibited globally. He has also won scholarships to attend masterclasses at Penland School of Crafts, Corning Museum of Glass and the Toledo Museum of Glass.
The talk at the discovery day will be an insight into Theo’s journey of working with glass, alongside the ancient influences and objects from Cyprus. A dive into the ritualistic objects and iconography of Cyprus, and the different glass making techniques involved in creating his work from hot sculpting in the hot shop to lathe cutting in the cold shop.
“Like a Moth to a Flame: A Journey into Molten Glass Sculpting”
with Laura Quinn
Laura Quinn is an Irish glass artist based in Reading. She obtained a BA (hons) in Glass and in Art & Design History from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and an MA in 3D Design Crafts from Arts University Plymouth in 2019. In 2022 she exhibited at Collect Open in London and has been selected for both the Ireland Glass Biennale and the British Glass Biennale. Laura was the recipient of the Golden Fleece Award and RDS Craft Bursary in 2022, two of Ireland’s most prestigious arts awards. In the same year she was awarded funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, becoming a QEST scholar. Her work has been acquired for Ulster Museum’s Public Collection, and the OPW’s Irish state Art Collection. Alongside her creative practice, she works as the Glass Technical Tutor at the University for the Creative Arts, UK.
Laura creates interactive sculptures using a combination of traditional glass making methods such as glassblowing and lampworking combined with digital technologies and alternative materials. The interactive sculptural forms she creates encourage close human engagement to challenge the perceived restraints of glass as being too fragile to touch. Based on theorist Michael Polanyi’s writings on tacit knowledge, her work explores what silent knowledge of the material the viewer can obtain through sight and touch. She designs and creates her work so that it is modular; it is often composed of hundreds of meticulously handmade glass components combined with flexible materials to create moveable, durable frameworks. This interface is vital in creating pieces that garner a close human-material relationship.
Laura’s artist talk will introduce her glassmaking journey covering both the technical and conceptual developments. She will discuss the highs and lows along the way and share with the audience a little part of the magic world she is honoured to be a part of.
“Unlimited Restrictions” with Opal Seabrook
I love storytelling, creating beautiful artworks with an interesting or even dark back story, and using what people have called my quirky character to make people smile. I believe art is good for the soul and for mental well-being, and I try to bring art into as many people’s lives as possible.
Following a visit to Scotland many years ago, I discovered traditional stained glass making and fell – quite accidentally – into the wonders of glass art which quickly drew me in and began my journey into the art world. Since my introductions into glass and throughout my journey I have often been told about restrictions – what can’t be done in stained glass, what can’t be done in fused glass, etc – without being given reasons. This encouraged me to test, trial, and develop methods to bypass them.
During my talk I will take you on my journey, looking at how I work as sustainably as possible, engineering and developing new techniques to mitigate the restrictions in the glass, the glassmaking and in perceptions. I will give you a glimpse into how my first year as a full-time glass is going, and where I see the future taking me.
“Glass Print and the Creative Journey – Layer by Layer”
with James Cockerill
For the past 13 years, I have dedicated myself to building my studio and establishing my career as a glass artist. My primary medium is glass, which I transform into visual narratives using silk screen printing, traditional glass paints, and enamels.
I have focused not just on mastering my craft but also on discovering and refining my artistic voice. This journey has been filled with both challenges and triumphs, and it has been influenced by my interactions with the materials I use and other artists I’ve engaged with.
I’ll be talking about my creative processes and how I have navigated the path to finding my unique voice in the art world. I’ll share insights into the techniques of silk screen printing on glass and the use of photo montages to create layered works. Additionally, I will discuss the pivotal moments and key influences that have shaped my artistic thinking.
LINK for tickets