The Board of North Lands Creative Glass has appointed Lorna O’Brien as Innovation and Business Development Director to raise the profile of North Lands Creative Glass and build a strong financial and creative base from which to take North Lands forward.

 The role of the Innovation and Business Development Director is to develop new and mutually beneficial partnerships with other arts organisations, individual artists, further and higher education bodies and industry in order to build a broader range of income streams and long term sustainability.

Lorna O’Brien comes to North Lands from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London where she was Head of Digital Programmes. She will take up her appointment on 1 March 2011. The post is being part financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community Highland LEADER 2007-2013 Programme, Highland and Islands Enterprise and Creative Scotland’s National Lottery Fund.

North Lands Creative Glass which is regarded as one of Europe’s principal centres of glass making, attracting artists and students from all parts of the world has a full programme for the year. Its master classes and international conference which take place in August and September have the theme of “Touching the Past”. Classes will be led by Ivana Sramkova, the distinguished Czech glass sculptress, Philip Eglin the internationally renowned ceramicist, Tessa Clegg, a former Artistic Director of North Lands and highly regarded American glass artists Michael Rogers and Cappy Thompson.

Earlier in the year North Lands will offer a new programme of outreach classes for artists and the local community starting with a four day course for students from the NC Art and Design Full Year Course at North Highland College, UHI, from 7 February, a six week kiln forming course on Wednesday evenings from 16 February, a three day course from 12 March in pate de verre, and a weekend engraving course led by Denis Mann on 2 and 3 April. The Family Weekend will be held this year on 13 and 14 August.

This year’s programme also includes new advanced skills classes for glass arts graduates funded by the Scottish Government and the European Community Highland LEADER 2007-2013 Programme, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Radcliffe Trust. The classes are designed to provide additional skills training in glass techniques not generally available in glass arts degree courses. The first five day glass blowing skills class will be led by James Maskrey of Sunderland University from 18 to 24 March.

North Lands will also hold a hot shop residency for four talented artists in mid career from 28 March to 8 May. The artists in residence, chosen from over forty applications, are Veronika Beckh, from Berlin, Holly Grace from Kingston, Australia, Clayton Hufford from Weavervile, North Carolina, and Venezuelan born Edison Zapata, currently working in New York. The artists will develop their own work in the Alastair Pilkington Studio and also work in the community during their residency.

North Lands is one of the 52 Foundation Organisations supported by Creative Scotland in recognition of their significant contribution to the development of Scottish art and artists.

For further information please contact North Lands Creative Glass T.01593 721229 E:http://info@northlandsglass.com 

Source: North Lands Creative Glass