Current Exhibition
THAT WHICH INSPIRES US- CATHRYN SHILLING- PART OF OUR CGS ‘LOCKDOWN’ SERIES 2/6
That Which Inspires Us- An exhibition co-curated with Cathryn Shilling
Inspiration. It motivates us. Directs us. Shapes us and influences us in ways we may not be consciously aware of.
Inspiration is a complex tapestry of rich, disconnected and sometimes bizarre threads, spanning a lifetime of creative experiences.
This exhibition is my ‘tapestry’. It is very personal to me and within its threads are themes and motifs which have nurtured my creativity, as well as steered my practice in ways I am not even aware.
No two tapestries are the same. They are as individual as each of us. What inspires one person, may leave another cold. They can be tranquil, or vibrant. Monochrome, or technicolour. Minimal, or lavish. Above all however, they are stories and within the narrative of those rich and intricate threads, we are able to provide others with a glimpse of That Which Inspires Us.
Launched on Tue, 26 May 2020
Cathryn Shilling FSDC
www.cathrynshilling.co.uk
www.instagram.com/cathrynshilling
Launched on:26th May 2020
Artist:David Cass
Email:The artist
David Cass
42%
2017-2019
Oil on reclaimed boiler
79cm high x 70cm wide x 28cm deep
Photograph: The artist
My artwork often discusses environmental topics, combined with explorations into recycling and repurposing. Forty-Two Percent has been painted on a vintage water-boiler, in an effort to reference thermal expansion of sea water (as a result of climate change). The horizon line of this seascape rests at a height of 42% upon the boiler’s face. This percentage is the proportion that warming
Artist:Jane Bruce
Jane Bruce
Framed (internal vessel blocks)
2013
Kiln formed glass, cold-worked
Each 28cm high x 21.5cm wide x 4.5cm deep
Installed 28h x 90w x 4.5d cms
'Framed' was the final piece in the Vase, Bottle, Bowl series, which was an examination of the ‘essential’ object. In 'Framed' the vessel was finally reduced to its pivotal part; the outline. As the final piece it was then 'Framed' as a summing up of what had gone before
Artist:David Reekie
Email:The artist
David Reekie
Temptation of Lies V
2019
Technique
Photograph: The artist
Lies and misinformation have become part of our lives and the political scene around the world, this work satirises this
and those who wish to mislead us.
Email:Paul Louis
Scott Chaseling
The Font
2010
Blown and sculpted hot glass
6 m high x 3 m wide x 6 m deep
Photograph: Paul Louis
Made whilst Artist in Residence, Musee du Verre, Sars-Potteries, France
Email:Ester Segarra
Louis Thompson
Bowled Over
2007
Blown glass and silver nitrate
Photograph: Ester Segarra
Glass in a molten state is malleable and fluid, striking an intimate relationship with the hands and mind of the artist.
The inspiration for this piece draws upon the human form, a reference that continues to underpin many of my ideas today.
I am fascinated by suggestions of touch, soft and delicate impressions on a surface, discreet and sensual interplay between forms that lie or stand close to each
Email:Simon Bruntnell.
Keith Cummings
Ember
2008
Glass and Copper
Multiple kiln-cast glass. Metal furnishings.
Base: Powdered glass with metal oxides
Oval: Cast from various glass solids, cold worked.
Photograph: Simon Bruntnell.
'Ember' was inspired by water-colours and photographs made of light in nature, particularly
partially blocked by hedges and woodland. The effect of walking through a sunken lane suggested the development of new multiple firings to create depths within the glass
Email:Jerry Hardman-Jones
Sue Lawty
LEAD 2m sq. (detail)
2007
Lead woven & beaten
Photograph: Jerry Hardman-Jones
Artist:Silvia Levenson
Email:Marco Del Comune
Silvia Levenson
Identidad Desaparecida (Missing Identity)
Glass Museum, Murano, Italy
Cast glass
2016
Photograph: Marco Del Comune
I was part of a generation that fought to change a society that seemed to us terribly unjust. I was 19 years old when in 1976 the military gained power with a coup d’état, and in August of that year my daughter Natalia was born. She is now the same age as the youth born during the dictatorship, from whom the military government stole biological identities. With i
Email:Robert Taylor
Angela Thwaites
Grey Flower
2005
Cast Glass
Photograph: Robert Taylor
The 'Grey Flower' is visually informed by ancient Mozarabic stone carved reliefs which I saw in a museum in Northern Spain. The development of the idea is connected to this poem:
‘What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?
What then?’
Samuel
Artist:Bruno Romanelli
Email:Andy Smart AC Cooper
Bruno Romanelli
Mimas
2014
Lost-wax cast glass
Photograph: Andy Smart AC Cooper
This piece, 'Mimas', is part of a series of work that explores themes around Colour, Form, Light and Material. Geometric forms are used in conjunction with the fluid, organic, spontaneous effects created by the moving glass to produce a tension between order and chaos.
At the heart of each piece is the circle, a symbol of wholeness and unity, the most fundamental of shapes, it represents the continuum of the lif
Email:Ester Segarra
Anthony Scala
Coriolis
2009
Three part sculpture, optical and cast glass elements
Photograph: Ester Segarra
'Coriolis' was my first foray into very high accuracy cold working. All the elements in the piece had to be cold worked by hand to tolerances within a fraction of a millimetre and a degree. My initial concept for this piece was very different. However, due to circumstances entirely beyond my control, the piece took on a very different form and I think was the better for it. Just goes to
Artist:Elliot Walker
Email:Simon Bruntnell
Elliot Walker
Surf
2020
Hand blown and hot sculpted glass
50cm high x 80cm wide x 47cm deep
Photograph: Simon Bruntnell
Taking inspiration from the great masters of the still life genre, particularly Van Beijeren and Steenwyck, my new pieces focus on the importance of light in ‘leading the eye’, as well as exploiting the optical qualities of glass.
'Surf' represents the best of my work, and the largest of the still life pieces I have created to date. These pieces are created using colourles
Artist:Josh Simpson
Email:Simpson Studio
Josh Simpson
Flame Front Corona Platter
2018
Hand blown reactive silver glass
Photograph: Simpson Studio
The composition of 'Corona' glass derives from ancient and cryptic glass formulae. I’m still working on understanding the chemistry and behaviour of this quirky glass; as of now, the final appearance of my 'Corona' pieces is impossible to predict. Perhaps someday I’ll master this material… or maybe I won’t. When everything goes well, the final appearance can be just gorgeous, like a splas
Artist:Max Jacquard
Email:The artist
Max Jacquard
Fertile Landscape 3
2011
Core cast 30% optical lead crystal
Photograph: The artist
This piece is one of a series of one-off works based around the theme of landscape and the human body.
These were key in the development of my core casting technique where objects forming negative space
inside the ‘Massif Cast’ glass block actually appear as solid objects suspended in space.
Artist:Peter Bremers
Peter Bremers
Transformation III
2013
Cast glass
My Transformations series gives expression to personal changes as a process of spiritual growth. These objects reflect movement, rhythm, change in line, volume, direction, colour and shape. They can be perceived as growth forms in different dynamics: sometimes very calm and subtle, sometimes explosive and dramatic… They resemble for me the music of JS Bach’s piano studies Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. Repeating a theme with small alterations was
Artist:Katharine Coleman
Email:The artist
Katharine Coleman
The Crown Princess Takes Tea
2011
Blown, cut, polished and wheel engraved lead crystal glass
Photograph: The artist
It was inspired by a visit to Japan and learning that the Crown Princess Masako, a commoner who met the Crown Prince at a summer tea party, was suffering deep depression. Her problems were several: they had only a beautiful girl child, no boy heir to the Imperial throne, she was incarcerated in the medieval society of the Tokyo Imperial Palace where she was not
Artist:Kathryn Wightman
Email:the artist
Kathryn Wightman
Carpet
2014
Sifted and sintered glass powder on sheet glass, kiln-formed.
Photograph: the artist
‘A series of steps
A trail in the pattern
A constant reminder of all that is imperfect’
The piece was inspired by a period of time that I lived with my Granny's Axminster carpet.
Artist:Kirstie Rae
Email:The artist
Kirstie Rae
Uncontained
2014
Folded glass, wall shelf, found objects
Photographer: The artist
This work is part of an ongoing body of work reflecting recollections of family traditions passed down through generations. The shelf, an immediate connection to home - where we place objects and images linked to memory.
Glass, as a material has the ability to hold and express creative energy as a contained reality and is employed in this way. This work aims to produce an experience that exte
Artist:Giovanni Corvaja
Email:The artist
Giovanni Corvaja
Mandala Bowl
2017
18 carat gold wire
Photograph: The artist
In my work I try to incorporate an element of transparency and a play of light. The object is not only defined by its outer edges and surfaces but by its interior structure too. Space enters the object and the object expands into space. light is reflected from within the object.
The latest object, the 'Mandala Bowl' is composed by wires of two different diameter: some are 50 microns and some 100 microns (0,1mm). By
Artist:Alison Kinnaird
Email:Robin Morton
Alison Kinnaird
Threshold II
2015
Engraved optical crystal, cast glass, LED light
Photograph: Robin Morton
One of a series of doorways. Doorways are a place of transition, looking forward, looking back. These pieces are about transition, mortality and impermanence.
Artist:Ester Segarra
Ester Segarra
Bardo (self-portrait)
2015
In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It means the ‘intermediate state’ of existence after death when the consciousness is separated from the body, in between two lives on earth. In life, bardo refers to that state in which we have lost our old reality and it is no longer available to us
Artist:Marc Petrovic
Email:Kari Russell-Pool
Marc Petrovic
Red Headed Avian Pair
2017.
Fused Bullseye sheet glass, free hand hot sculpted and blown glass murrine
14 cm high x 19 cm wide x 25.5 cm deep
Photograph: Kari Russell-Pool
For nearly three decades I have employed birds and bird imagery as a metaphor for my ruminations on relationships, parenting, home, shelter, and geographical identification. As an artist, I have been drawn to the ideas of identity that grow out of a sense of place and self.
In my series, Avian, I take a close
Artist:Jeff Zimmer
Email:Simon Bruntnell
Jeff Zimmer
21st Century Memento Mori
2017
Installation of laser etched black glass
Dimensions variable; each piece, 27cm x 20 cm
Photo: Simon Bruntnell
In previous generations, one could hold onto the memory of a deceased loved one – or even ponder one’s own mortality – through intimate, hand-held memento mori objects. Objects that could be worn, touched, and held.
I wanted to update the tradition for the 21st century, so I started to etch memento mori imagery onto the screens of mobile ph
Artist:Simon Eccles
Email:Darren Weed
Simon Eccles
Murrine Dog Bowls
2013-2014
Photograph: Darren Weed
These pieces are made using an ancient technique of creating rods of coloured glass which in cross section reveal an image or pattern, this is called Murrine. They are made by stretching solid rods of coloured glass into cane, the main patterns begin circular or square in section and some are two colours over-laid. Once annealed and cooled these canes are cut to length and arranged into bundles and tied together using wire, the
Artist:David Cass
Email:The artist
David Cass
42%
2017-2019
Oil on reclaimed boiler
79cm high x 70cm wide x 28cm deep
Photograph: The artist
My artwork often discusses environmental topics, combined with explorations into recycling and repurposing. Forty-Two Percent has been painted on a vintage water-boiler, in an effort to reference thermal expansion of sea water (as a result of climate change). The horizon line of this seascape rests at a height of 42% upon the boiler’s face. This percentage is the proportion that warming
Artist:Jane Bruce
Jane Bruce
Framed (internal vessel blocks)
2013
Kiln formed glass, cold-worked
Each 28cm high x 21.5cm wide x 4.5cm deep
Installed 28h x 90w x 4.5d cms
'Framed' was the final piece in the Vase, Bottle, Bowl series, which was an examination of the ‘essential’ object. In 'Framed' the vessel was finally reduced to its pivotal part; the outline. As the final piece it was then 'Framed' as a summing up of what had gone before
Artist:David Reekie
Email:The artist
David Reekie
Temptation of Lies V
2019
Technique
Photograph: The artist
Lies and misinformation have become part of our lives and the political scene around the world, this work satirises this
and those who wish to mislead us.
Email:Paul Louis
Scott Chaseling
The Font
2010
Blown and sculpted hot glass
6 m high x 3 m wide x 6 m deep
Photograph: Paul Louis
Made whilst Artist in Residence, Musee du Verre, Sars-Potteries, France
Email:Ester Segarra
Louis Thompson
Bowled Over
2007
Blown glass and silver nitrate
Photograph: Ester Segarra
Glass in a molten state is malleable and fluid, striking an intimate relationship with the hands and mind of the artist.
The inspiration for this piece draws upon the human form, a reference that continues to underpin many of my ideas today.
I am fascinated by suggestions of touch, soft and delicate impressions on a surface, discreet and sensual interplay between forms that lie or stand close to each
Email:Simon Bruntnell.
Keith Cummings
Ember
2008
Glass and Copper
Multiple kiln-cast glass. Metal furnishings.
Base: Powdered glass with metal oxides
Oval: Cast from various glass solids, cold worked.
Photograph: Simon Bruntnell.
'Ember' was inspired by water-colours and photographs made of light in nature, particularly
partially blocked by hedges and woodland. The effect of walking through a sunken lane suggested the development of new multiple firings to create depths within the glass
Email:Jerry Hardman-Jones
Sue Lawty
LEAD 2m sq. (detail)
2007
Lead woven & beaten
Photograph: Jerry Hardman-Jones
Artist:Silvia Levenson
Email:Marco Del Comune
Silvia Levenson
Identidad Desaparecida (Missing Identity)
Glass Museum, Murano, Italy
Cast glass
2016
Photograph: Marco Del Comune
I was part of a generation that fought to change a society that seemed to us terribly unjust. I was 19 years old when in 1976 the military gained power with a coup d’état, and in August of that year my daughter Natalia was born. She is now the same age as the youth born during the dictatorship, from whom the military government stole biological identities. With i
Email:Robert Taylor
Angela Thwaites
Grey Flower
2005
Cast Glass
Photograph: Robert Taylor
The 'Grey Flower' is visually informed by ancient Mozarabic stone carved reliefs which I saw in a museum in Northern Spain. The development of the idea is connected to this poem:
‘What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?
What then?’
Samuel
Artist:Bruno Romanelli
Email:Andy Smart AC Cooper
Bruno Romanelli
Mimas
2014
Lost-wax cast glass
Photograph: Andy Smart AC Cooper
This piece, 'Mimas', is part of a series of work that explores themes around Colour, Form, Light and Material. Geometric forms are used in conjunction with the fluid, organic, spontaneous effects created by the moving glass to produce a tension between order and chaos.
At the heart of each piece is the circle, a symbol of wholeness and unity, the most fundamental of shapes, it represents the continuum of the lif
Email:Ester Segarra
Anthony Scala
Coriolis
2009
Three part sculpture, optical and cast glass elements
Photograph: Ester Segarra
'Coriolis' was my first foray into very high accuracy cold working. All the elements in the piece had to be cold worked by hand to tolerances within a fraction of a millimetre and a degree. My initial concept for this piece was very different. However, due to circumstances entirely beyond my control, the piece took on a very different form and I think was the better for it. Just goes to
Artist:Elliot Walker
Email:Simon Bruntnell
Elliot Walker
Surf
2020
Hand blown and hot sculpted glass
50cm high x 80cm wide x 47cm deep
Photograph: Simon Bruntnell
Taking inspiration from the great masters of the still life genre, particularly Van Beijeren and Steenwyck, my new pieces focus on the importance of light in ‘leading the eye’, as well as exploiting the optical qualities of glass.
'Surf' represents the best of my work, and the largest of the still life pieces I have created to date. These pieces are created using colourles
Artist:Josh Simpson
Email:Simpson Studio
Josh Simpson
Flame Front Corona Platter
2018
Hand blown reactive silver glass
Photograph: Simpson Studio
The composition of 'Corona' glass derives from ancient and cryptic glass formulae. I’m still working on understanding the chemistry and behaviour of this quirky glass; as of now, the final appearance of my 'Corona' pieces is impossible to predict. Perhaps someday I’ll master this material… or maybe I won’t. When everything goes well, the final appearance can be just gorgeous, like a splas
Artist:Max Jacquard
Email:The artist
Max Jacquard
Fertile Landscape 3
2011
Core cast 30% optical lead crystal
Photograph: The artist
This piece is one of a series of one-off works based around the theme of landscape and the human body.
These were key in the development of my core casting technique where objects forming negative space
inside the ‘Massif Cast’ glass block actually appear as solid objects suspended in space.
Artist:Peter Bremers
Peter Bremers
Transformation III
2013
Cast glass
My Transformations series gives expression to personal changes as a process of spiritual growth. These objects reflect movement, rhythm, change in line, volume, direction, colour and shape. They can be perceived as growth forms in different dynamics: sometimes very calm and subtle, sometimes explosive and dramatic… They resemble for me the music of JS Bach’s piano studies Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. Repeating a theme with small alterations was
Artist:Katharine Coleman
Email:The artist
Katharine Coleman
The Crown Princess Takes Tea
2011
Blown, cut, polished and wheel engraved lead crystal glass
Photograph: The artist
It was inspired by a visit to Japan and learning that the Crown Princess Masako, a commoner who met the Crown Prince at a summer tea party, was suffering deep depression. Her problems were several: they had only a beautiful girl child, no boy heir to the Imperial throne, she was incarcerated in the medieval society of the Tokyo Imperial Palace where she was not
Artist:Kathryn Wightman
Email:the artist
Kathryn Wightman
Carpet
2014
Sifted and sintered glass powder on sheet glass, kiln-formed.
Photograph: the artist
‘A series of steps
A trail in the pattern
A constant reminder of all that is imperfect’
The piece was inspired by a period of time that I lived with my Granny's Axminster carpet.
Artist:Kirstie Rae
Email:The artist
Kirstie Rae
Uncontained
2014
Folded glass, wall shelf, found objects
Photographer: The artist
This work is part of an ongoing body of work reflecting recollections of family traditions passed down through generations. The shelf, an immediate connection to home - where we place objects and images linked to memory.
Glass, as a material has the ability to hold and express creative energy as a contained reality and is employed in this way. This work aims to produce an experience that exte
Artist:Giovanni Corvaja
Email:The artist
Giovanni Corvaja
Mandala Bowl
2017
18 carat gold wire
Photograph: The artist
In my work I try to incorporate an element of transparency and a play of light. The object is not only defined by its outer edges and surfaces but by its interior structure too. Space enters the object and the object expands into space. light is reflected from within the object.
The latest object, the 'Mandala Bowl' is composed by wires of two different diameter: some are 50 microns and some 100 microns (0,1mm). By
Artist:Alison Kinnaird
Email:Robin Morton
Alison Kinnaird
Threshold II
2015
Engraved optical crystal, cast glass, LED light
Photograph: Robin Morton
One of a series of doorways. Doorways are a place of transition, looking forward, looking back. These pieces are about transition, mortality and impermanence.
Artist:Ester Segarra
Ester Segarra
Bardo (self-portrait)
2015
In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It means the ‘intermediate state’ of existence after death when the consciousness is separated from the body, in between two lives on earth. In life, bardo refers to that state in which we have lost our old reality and it is no longer available to us
Artist:Marc Petrovic
Email:Kari Russell-Pool
Marc Petrovic
Red Headed Avian Pair
2017.
Fused Bullseye sheet glass, free hand hot sculpted and blown glass murrine
14 cm high x 19 cm wide x 25.5 cm deep
Photograph: Kari Russell-Pool
For nearly three decades I have employed birds and bird imagery as a metaphor for my ruminations on relationships, parenting, home, shelter, and geographical identification. As an artist, I have been drawn to the ideas of identity that grow out of a sense of place and self.
In my series, Avian, I take a close
Artist:Jeff Zimmer
Email:Simon Bruntnell
Jeff Zimmer
21st Century Memento Mori
2017
Installation of laser etched black glass
Dimensions variable; each piece, 27cm x 20 cm
Photo: Simon Bruntnell
In previous generations, one could hold onto the memory of a deceased loved one – or even ponder one’s own mortality – through intimate, hand-held memento mori objects. Objects that could be worn, touched, and held.
I wanted to update the tradition for the 21st century, so I started to etch memento mori imagery onto the screens of mobile ph
Artist:Simon Eccles
Email:Darren Weed
Simon Eccles
Murrine Dog Bowls
2013-2014
Photograph: Darren Weed
These pieces are made using an ancient technique of creating rods of coloured glass which in cross section reveal an image or pattern, this is called Murrine. They are made by stretching solid rods of coloured glass into cane, the main patterns begin circular or square in section and some are two colours over-laid. Once annealed and cooled these canes are cut to length and arranged into bundles and tied together using wire, the