Journal

Autumn Golds

Autumn Golds

The sun on the bracken as it turns from green to gold is beautiful. The rich hues and depth of autumnal colour was a feast for the eyes on my Sunday morning walk.

Drawing

Drawing

I always like to draw out the feeling, the essence of the subject for each design.

It's always been part of my life, sketching and keeping something of a visual diary. Old art school habits die hard, and serve me well is trying to work out whats important when thinking about making a new limited edition bowl.

The Bracken Bowl

The Bracken Bowl

The subject of our third Limited Edition of 2022, while unloved by many, once played a major role in day to day Moors life.

Bracken covers part of the Dale in a green canopy every year; as it dies backs in autumn the landscape turns bronze.

In times past it wasn’t just the pernicious weed that blocks footpaths and trails.

Gathered off the Moor, by women for the most part, bales of bracken would be dried in great heaps for livestock bedding, for winter vegetable clamp storage, it would be stuffed into packaging crates to keep cargo safe, as a mulch, in soap making and the ash used as a fumigant.

Clearly, one of the most important uses was by the Huguenot’s. Rosedale’s first glass makers built pits to burn bracken, using the resultant potash as a flux to reduce the temperature required to melt sand.

Potash remains a vital ingredient today.

We hope you enjoy the warm autumnal bronze of our third limited edition bowl of 2022.

A warm bronze bowl with a bronze lip wrap.

75 Small Bowls £270 H11cm ø15cm
25 Larger Bowls £470 H15cm ø18cm
Autumn

Autumn

Autumns colours are slowly appearing.

British Glass Biennale 2022

British Glass Biennale 2022

A great show well worth a visit.

Location Glasshouse Arts Centre Ruskin Glass Centre Wollaston Road Amblecote Stourbridge DY8 4HF

Open 26 August – 1 October 2022 Tuesday–Saturday 10–4pm Free entry
Exhibition - Contemporary Glass Society at 25: Past, Present, the Future

Exhibition - Contemporary Glass Society at 25: Past, Present, the Future

23 July to 30 October 2022
Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 4pm
Stourbridge Glass Museum
£4 entrance charge

What a spectacular year 2022 is for the Contemporary Glass Society. From humble beginnings 25 years ago, it has developed over the years into a thriving and proactive society supporting a membership of over 1,000 British and international contemporary glass artists.

To celebrate their quarter century representing and promoting contemporary glass, the CGS is showcasing a special celebratory three month long exhibition entitled, “CGS at 25: Past, Present, the Future”, hosted by the new Stourbridge Glass Museum.

And yes, thats a very early Aesculus in the pic. Thank you CGS.

British Glass Biennale

British Glass Biennale

We are delighted to have been selected to show. "One hundred and three artists were selected out of 223 applicants to present the most interesting, diverse and outstanding glass art made in the UK in the last three years. The work will form a cutting-edge showcase of contemporary British based glass talent with over £17,000 worth of awards to be won. Prize winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 25 August at the Glasshouse, Stourbridge. Winners of the prizes chosen through public votes will be announced at the closing ceremony on 1 October." See the exhibition from 26 August - October 1st - 10am - 4pm Venue The Glass House, Wollaston Road Amblecote, Stourbridge. DY8 4HF https://www.glassbiennale.org/
Earth Sea Sky - CGS 25th Anniversary Exhibition

Earth Sea Sky - CGS 25th Anniversary Exhibition

We are delighted to have been selected for this exhibition and curated by Cathryn Shilling. We have made two rondels in stands in overlay blown and engraved glass.

This year is note-worthy for several reasons: firstly, it is the United Nations International Year of Glass, something which we here at London Glassblowing are really excited about. Secondly, it marks the 25th anniversary of the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS.

One of CGS’ aims during this year is to look back and acknowledge their debt of gratitude to those who came before and to showcase their strong heritage and development since their inception. CGS challenges their members to create work that is a celebration of the natural world in which we live. In recognition of this, they are once again collaborating with London Glassblowing on a special exhibition, Earth / Sea / Sky, curated by Cathryn Shilling. The exhibition is showing at our Bermondsey Street gallery during the month of July. This is a juried show in which 50 selected emerging and established artists will showcase new and exciting works, some of a collaborative nature, either through working together with another artist or by combining materials and/or techniques.

You can see the online catalogue here https://londonglassblowing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/London-Glassblowing-Catalogue.pdf