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A New Way of Looking at Glass
Last autumn, I got accepted on to the AA2A Scheme at the University of Derby. It’s a residency programme, offered to several practising artists/makers over a range of educational establishments. It’s intended to help take time develop ideas and to offer the opportunity to use facilities we might not usually get access to.I became eligible to apply last year and got accepted for a place on the scheme. Unfortunately, a few things happened in my personal life which meant I struggled to find the time to spend on the project (involvement means spending a certain amount of time on-site and being visible to and accessible for students), but finally about a month ago, I was able to spend a bit of time on it at last.I’d wanted to explore new ways of ‘seeing’ glass, which fascinates me in all forms – not just because of it’s beauty, and it’s odd combination of fragility and strength but in other ways too; technically, it’s an incrediblly versatile material which can be used for an amazing array of applications, and it can look so different – of course, quite often, with glass, it’s about what we can see through it and what can or can’t get through it – heat, light.I used to do a lot of photography and used to enjoy developing my own films and printing from my negatives. Of course with the digital age, I don’t go in the dark room any longer, so having the opportunity to use the facilities at the university was too good to pass up.Glass does funny things to light – you can’t always ‘see’ what it’s doing, but expose traditional photo paper and it reveals where some of that light is actually going (this again appeals to the scientific side of me).Take this image:
Copper wire and glass photogram Remembering that this is photographic paper usually used with a negative – so the dark bits are where all light has got through, the lighter bits are where less has got through (still with me??). Nothing unusual really, this is a round of glass with copper wire wrapped through the middle. Of course, copper wire is solid, opaque, won’t let light through. But those dots? They’re air bubbles. The solid white line around the edge – that’s the curve of the glass. These bubbles and curves are distorting (well, refracting) the light in such a way that it’s not hitting the development paper. I think it’s fascinating.Here’s another one -you’ll probably recognise the style/design, people say it’s very ‘me’ – my textured glass.
Photogram There’s absolutely loads more I’ve done – I spent a couple of sessions simply working out which glass works best, out of the different techniques I use for making – just working in black and white paper is fascinating and has endless options.Just wait until you see what happens in colour… -
Bad Blogger….
Well, I don’t mean I write bad blog posts, I mean I don’t write them at all!The International Festival of Glass was fabulous, but I haven’t managed to blog about it yet – sadly, my photos didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped, so I don’t have a huge amount to show you – but I will, I promise! Fab news from there, if I didn’t tweet or Facebook it loud enough is that my medallion sold!And then I also said I would talk about the Olympic Legacy Project, and give a more detailed account and some photographs – I need to do that soon, seeing as we officially open it next week!However, for a few personal reasons, this last week or ten days or so have been a bit hectic and stressful, so blogging went on the back burner for even longer. Hopefully I will start to catch up with myself soon – although if all the exicting things that are potentially coming my way actually come to fruition, I am going to be one busy bee! Oh yeah, and we’re planning the Christmas Open Studios already (yes, only 12 weeks to Christmas and I haven’t started making Christmas stock yet…. best get a wiggle on, Dawn!).Well, I was going to do a treasury round up, but for some reason the website that does the widgets has decided not to play nicely, and I am not getting rid of this post now! So, I will do that as soon as it works again – or else I will add some photographs of something, which ever comes sooner!I know, for now, here’s a quick snap of some new ideas I have been playing with, fun motto coasters…
Motto Coasters -
Going International!
My work is going to be featured in my first international exhibition soon! Okay, so it’s actually in the based in the UK, but features glass makers from around the world, and I m thrilled to think that my glass is going to be exhibited alongside some internationally aclaimed artists.As part of the International Festival of Glass, the Contemporary Glass Society are holding a Medallions Exhibition at the Ruskin Glass Centre – here’s my entry:
Glass Medallion I’ve been looking forward to the IFG since they confirmed it was on, which seems like a long time ago – I’ve been the last two times (it’s on every two years) and for anybody with a love of anything glassy, I can’t recommend it highly enough (well, its good even if you’re not a glass addict!) – I usually blog about it, so if you want to see the sort of work you can see, take a look at these earlier blog posts:“Off to the IFG” (Images of 2008)
“What We Saw at the IFG” (August 2010)
Can’t wait to go to the Festival, and so excited to be part of it!
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The Joys of Sharing….
As you’re no doubt aware, I am based at Shed 2 Studios in Ilkeston – a fabulous old building (even though it gets a bit cold!), which rather than making individual units, the original founders decided to leave as open studio spaces.It makes for a great working atmosphere, with lots of sharing of ideas, no feelings of isolation that some makers suffer, we can chat while we work – you even know when someone’s put the kettle on because they can’t sneak by – we here ya! It also gives me access to other skills, materials, equipment and techniques for for a maker is invaluable.But alongside Shed 2, in the next building along, is another maker, Iain Swanson of Leafbone Furniture. Iain makes a range of unusual, but absolutely beautiful bespoke furniture, often retaining the original shapes of the pieces of wood he uses. When you see his work, you can’t but want to touch it (sorry Iain, I’ll bring the duster…) I’d recently made some mini-panels with the idea of making colourful tea-lights, so for our recent open studios, I asked Iain to make me a few stands. Obviously my brain wasn’t fully engaged, and I forgot to explain that I wanted to place the tealight in a holder at the back of the panel; however, when he brought me round the samples, it really didn’t matter – as I thought what he made was beautiful anyway! He’s managed to capture elements of each panel and make unique stands – again, they have that touchy-feeliness and I think they go lovely together. Here’s a selection:
Tea Light 
