Art and Craft of Glass

TINA ROSE looks ahead to a celebration of 30 years of Scottish Glass

IT IS particularly appropriate that Migrate, an exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Scottish Glass Society, will launch in the Highlands, a place that is home to North Lands, the international centre of excellence in glass, and an area where people understand the conflicting emotions of migration.

The exhibition in Inverness will bring together work by thirty glass artists from across Scotland examining the different ways they express a sense of place and identity.

Many of these artists have themselves ‘migrated’, drawn to Scotland to work or study, travelling from Europe, Japan, America and England, and have simply never wanted to leave.

Work by Angela Steel

The exhibition was juried by Dan Klein, a founding director of North Lands Creative Glass, and was curated by glass artists Jessamy Kelly and Carrie Fertig.

The society promotes artists at all stages of their careers, so work by established and internationally recognised artists, such as Keiko Mukaide and Alison Kinnaird MBE, will be shown alongside emerging artists and recent graduates such as Emma Lindsay and Julia Malle, who trained at Edinburgh College of Art, the only Scottish art college still teaching glass.

Highland artists Kim Bramley, based on Skye, and Nichola Burns of Glasstorm in Tain are among the group selected to take part in the show, which will include cast, etched, engraved, slumped, fused, blown, leaded, stained and painted panels, forms and sculptural pieces.

As part of their celebrations they are also holding the Migrate Conference on 31 October 2009 at the National Museum of Scotland. This is open to everyone interested in glass in Scotland, and will feature a selection of talks from some of the artists in the exhibition alongside Rose Watban, senior curator applied art & design at National Museums Scotland and Emma Walker, chief executive of craftscotland. Booking form and information can be found on their website.

The Scottish Glass Society plays an important role in developing contemporary glassmaking in Scotland, promoting the development of the art and the craftsmanship of glass making and its many variations in Scotland. Its aim is to advance the public appreciation of glass making as an art form and to champion the work of glass artists in Scotland by organising exhibitions and events for glassmakers, collectors, historians and enthusiasts.

This exhibition will be a unique insight into the art of Scottish glass artists, and the moving and possibly controversial theme of migration, is a challenging way to celebrate 30 years of Scottish glass.

The exhibition runs at the following venues:

Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, Castle Wynd, Inverness IV2 3EB, from 4 July to 1 August 2009.

Broadfield Glass Museum, Compton Drive, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 9NS, 14 November to 21 March 2010

© Tina Rose, 2009

Links

• Scottish Glass Society

We are sorry to report the very sad news of the death of Dan Klein on Saturday 27th June 2009. Dan who was one of the driving forces of North Lands Creative Glass is a great loss not only to all creative glass practitioners but to the wider arts world.

Gallery

Liz Rowley - Routes Of Passage

Jessamy Kelly - Wings Overview

Work by Karen Akester

Work by Alec Galloway

Mac Jacquard - Sleep