CGS Online Exhibition Themes for 2026
We are delighted to be launching 5 Online Exhibitions in 2026. We know members love to be able to plan for the different themes ahead of time, so below are the dates for your diaries and the themes.
There will be 4 exhibitions that are for members to submit and one Open Exhibition for both members and non members. We are excited to see the works you submit for the shows.
These are open to everyone, those beginning their exploration of glass or established artists, from anywhere in the world, but please keep the theme in mind, as we will be ensuring all works fit the themes. We would love you to challenge the concepts, so within the blurb, please write about the inspirations, and connection to the themes.
Please find the PDF for you to download and keep in the studio as a reference, or below is all of the details.
Form & Function
Deadline – 12th January
Live - 19th January
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 16th March
Form & Function invites artists to explore how appearance and purpose inform one another. The exhibition aims to discuss where beauty meets utility: how vessels, objects, or functional forms can also carry emotion, narrative, or atmosphere.
Artists are encouraged to consider how craftsmanship, material understanding, and intention converge in their work, and to submit pieces that either embrace functionality, question it, or expand its possibilities.
Installations and Interventions
Call out – 2nd February
Deadline – 23rd February
Live - 16th March
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 25th May
We invite you to submit work for an exhibition exploring how creative practice can transform, interrupt, or reimagine space. Installations and Interventions focus on works that shift the viewer’s experience—whether through immersive environments, spatial constructions, performative elements, or subtle acts that alter how a place is understood. We welcome large-scale works, site-responsive pieces and smaller objects that create dialogue through placement or disruption.
Open Exhibition – All Things Great and Small
Open to Non- Members
Call out - 13th April
Deadline - 27th April
Live - 25th May
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 3rd August
We invite submissions for All Things Great and Small, an online glass exhibition exploring scale and detail in everyday life. We welcome a wide range of glassmaking techniques—from traditional blowing, casting, and fusing to experimental approaches—and are particularly interested in works that highlight the extraordinary in the familiar, whether through monumental forms or intricate, close-up details.
Sign of the Times
Call out – 22nd June
Deadline – 13th July
Live - 3rd August
Makers online Talk- TBC
End - 12th October
Sign of the Times will examine the presence of text, signage, and visual language in contemporary glass art. The exhibition aims to brings together works that reference modern society—its advertising, public spaces, digital culture, and shared symbols—while also acknowledging glass’s long history as a carrier of messages. Using a wide range of glass techniques and approaches, we hope to show works using text, signs and objects that invite reflection on communication, identity, and the social, cultural, and political markers of our time.
Heritage Techniques and Objects
Call out - 1st September
Deadline – 28th September
Live - 12th October
Makers online Talk – TBC
End - 18th January 2027
Heritage Techniques and Objects. This exhibition aims to bring together contemporary glass artworks that reflect on the material’s rich history while reimagining it through a present-day lens. The exhibition will feature works that adopt, adapt, and exploit traditional glassmaking techniques, alongside pieces that reference or reinterpret antique and historic glass objects. By engaging with heritage processes and forms, the artworks will explore ideas of continuity, memory, and transformation, revealing how the past remains an active and evolving influence within contemporary glass practice.
To join an exhibition please see the PDF for all of the details.
There will be 4 exhibitions that are for members to submit and one Open Exhibition for both members and non members. We are excited to see the works you submit for the shows.
These are open to everyone, those beginning their exploration of glass or established artists, from anywhere in the world, but please keep the theme in mind, as we will be ensuring all works fit the themes. We would love you to challenge the concepts, so within the blurb, please write about the inspirations, and connection to the themes.
Please find the PDF for you to download and keep in the studio as a reference, or below is all of the details.
Form & Function
Deadline – 12th January
Live - 19th January
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 16th March
Form & Function invites artists to explore how appearance and purpose inform one another. The exhibition aims to discuss where beauty meets utility: how vessels, objects, or functional forms can also carry emotion, narrative, or atmosphere.
Artists are encouraged to consider how craftsmanship, material understanding, and intention converge in their work, and to submit pieces that either embrace functionality, question it, or expand its possibilities.
Installations and Interventions
Call out – 2nd February
Deadline – 23rd February
Live - 16th March
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 25th May
We invite you to submit work for an exhibition exploring how creative practice can transform, interrupt, or reimagine space. Installations and Interventions focus on works that shift the viewer’s experience—whether through immersive environments, spatial constructions, performative elements, or subtle acts that alter how a place is understood. We welcome large-scale works, site-responsive pieces and smaller objects that create dialogue through placement or disruption.
Open Exhibition – All Things Great and Small
Open to Non- Members
Call out - 13th April
Deadline - 27th April
Live - 25th May
Makers online Talk - TBC
End - 3rd August
We invite submissions for All Things Great and Small, an online glass exhibition exploring scale and detail in everyday life. We welcome a wide range of glassmaking techniques—from traditional blowing, casting, and fusing to experimental approaches—and are particularly interested in works that highlight the extraordinary in the familiar, whether through monumental forms or intricate, close-up details.
Sign of the Times
Call out – 22nd June
Deadline – 13th July
Live - 3rd August
Makers online Talk- TBC
End - 12th October
Sign of the Times will examine the presence of text, signage, and visual language in contemporary glass art. The exhibition aims to brings together works that reference modern society—its advertising, public spaces, digital culture, and shared symbols—while also acknowledging glass’s long history as a carrier of messages. Using a wide range of glass techniques and approaches, we hope to show works using text, signs and objects that invite reflection on communication, identity, and the social, cultural, and political markers of our time.
Heritage Techniques and Objects
Call out - 1st September
Deadline – 28th September
Live - 12th October
Makers online Talk – TBC
End - 18th January 2027
Heritage Techniques and Objects. This exhibition aims to bring together contemporary glass artworks that reflect on the material’s rich history while reimagining it through a present-day lens. The exhibition will feature works that adopt, adapt, and exploit traditional glassmaking techniques, alongside pieces that reference or reinterpret antique and historic glass objects. By engaging with heritage processes and forms, the artworks will explore ideas of continuity, memory, and transformation, revealing how the past remains an active and evolving influence within contemporary glass practice.
To join an exhibition please see the PDF for all of the details.
Author:Sarah
Post date:04-01-2026
Region:World
Email:chair@cgs.org.uk
From Date:05/01/2026
To Date:01/10/2026
