Glass diary

Rainbow Room

2012-01-21T18:10:00.002Z

At last a professional photo showing the two wall pieces for the Rainbow Room at Birminham Children's Hospital. Very difficult to capture as the room is long and narrow.
Our proposal fr the National Memorial Arboretum is also accepted, so another installation to look forward to.

Glass light

2011-10-14T13:33:00.004+01:00

This is the glass lighting piece at Vessel Gallery in Notting Hill Gate (along with two of my optical illusion pieces). The photo by Ester Segara really makes it look good. I had some reservations about it, though the idea has potential. A whole row of them down the middle of a restaurant would be quite fetching. Are there any architects out there listening?

How to Spend It

2011-10-10T15:49:00.000+01:00

It seems I am featured in the 5 October edition of the FT's mag How to Spend It with some rather nice comments that ought be available on the link given.

I got two orders within days - which all goes to show how publicity helps.

Vessel Gallery

2011-08-24T17:24:00.004+01:00

I am exhibiting in this show 6 to 29 October with a lighting piece that the gallery is working with me to produce. All quite exciting and a direction I would like to go in. I think there is some commercial potential in lighting. The top right picture in this poster is one of my pieces - I think it will be in the next Crafts magazine.

Lack of entries recently doesn't mean anything. I am busy designing for the two public art projects and making experimental pieces for them. But people are away on holiday and probably it will all pick up steam in September.

School in Sheffield

2011-06-19T11:12:00.001+01:00

This is the model for the gate for a school in Sheffield that we have now had approved - it swivvels on a central access so it can lock. We are looking forward to making the real thing and seeingit in situ by the end of the year.

Birmingham Children's Hospital

2011-06-17T20:05:00.003+01:00

It's OK now to revela the detail of the new commissionthat Matt and I have won at the Birmingham Children's Hospital and the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas - in honour of children who die in hospitals. I led our first Consultation group this week and learned a great deal about what the staff and bereaved parents might like. For example, although everyone loved this moth wing - as well as the metaphor of all too short a span of life - it seems that in some cultures you musn't depict faces or eyes; moth and butterfly wings don't all have eyes on them but many do. Does this disqualify artistic inspiration from this source? Still thinking about it.

Oxford Arts Week

2011-05-23T12:02:00.002+01:00

This is what my display looks like at 100A Cowley Road, with a large framed art print at the back and several others in the browser (one sold at the private view along with a few sparkle plates). A high class collection of work and I was pleased to be a part of it. On show for 10 days.

Public Art Project

2011-05-18T12:30:00.002+01:00

We have won the 'tender' for a major project comprising two internal spaces and one external one (one proposal drawing shown here). Very exciting indeed. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to say where or what it is at this stage, though I expect I will be able to at some point. Very thrilling anyway.

May

2011-05-05T13:43:00.003+01:00

It's another of those 'What happened to April' moments. Nothing logged, but I showed at the artsdepot 'Small is Beautiful' exhibition during May and have 5 prints at the Braintree Community Hospital where they will be on show for the next 6 months. Also shortlisted for another public art project and a show at Vessel Gallery (haven't heard about either yet). However, during May I have joined fellow East Finchley artists in the No Space Needed exhibition and will be exhibiting at 100A Cowley Road Workshops as part of Oxford Arts week from 21-30 May.

Phoenix Exhibition

2011-03-13T13:15:00.003Z

How right my last post was: I have already sold the most expensive item in the exhibition - which is interesting as my prices were way higher than anyone else's. It all goes to show that you need to get your work seen and that exhibitions are a good way to do this. It's also pleasing that the Phoenix will get some commission out of it and I'm glad to do something small to support the cinema.

Lights Up

2011-03-03T13:55:00.001Z

I've got two things in this exhibition - low key, but it's good to be seen rather than keep stuff at home. A lot of people pass through The Phoenix.

New Gallery in Cardiff

2011-02-27T18:34:00.004Z

This, and two other pieces, are about to go on show at the Oriel Albany Gallery - a new one for me. I've got nothing at home now, which is the way it should be.

Miratis

2011-02-01T12:33:00.001Z

Launched today is a new website http://www.miratis.com/ where I am one of 10 launch artists showing the 'finest creations from today’s most talented and talked-about designer-makers' (their words). It's good to have stuff out there on view - and this picture they took showing my work is particularly vibrant.

Next exhibition

2011-01-31T18:12:00.006Z

I am in this exhibition, starting today and ending on Valentines Day. My offerings are second from the left, second row.

Valentine dishes

2011-01-14T14:31:00.005Z

A set of pâte de verre valentine dishes for the Heavenly Sent exhibition at The Glass Art Gallery which I am about to deliver. Wastage of 4 (maybe 5) which aren't good enough. Hours spent - and with the gallery mark-up, 20% VAT, general recession, and no private view this time, it hardly seems worth doing. That seems rather a down-beat posting for the first of 2011, but we are all feeling the pinch now. Maybe the thing to do is to make what one wants to make and garner it up for better times ahead.

Art prints

2010-12-21T12:34:00.002Z

We have just launched our website to sell fine art prints online. It's at www.artglass.print.com
where the first range of limited editions can be seen. We have just a few Artists' Proofs available on enquiry.

Christmas sparkle

2010-12-21T12:28:00.003Z

Almost all my sparkle plates have gone now. I've just a few left (which I might give away myself) so in the end it was worth making a batch of affordable present-type stock. I did well financially - better than posher exhibitions in fact.

Christmas Fair

2010-11-29T17:16:00.002Z

Alternative title to this post is 'Where did November go?'. I've been a tardy blogger this year. Not good. Here's a (rather grainy) picture of the lensy sparkle plates I am making at the moment for the Christmas Fair at the ArtWorkers' Guild on 5 December. They'll look nice with delicate biscuits - though I don't recommend heavy handling. Inexpensive for an austerity Christmas.

Shortlisted for ...

2010-11-11T16:46:00.000Z

We were shortlisted for the Award for Best Use of Visual Art in Health Care - not just my work, but all the hospital art - shame we didn't win. Still, down to the last 4 is not so bad and a good lunch at the old Whitbread stables was had by all. I tried to replicate these icecream baskets later - but they went soggy.

Wallace Day

2010-10-22T18:14:00.001+01:00

An interesting seminar day run by the Society for the History of Glass in which I learned of two 1st C AD glassmakers who were women - one who did (?blew) window glass. Another talk concentrated on Roman riddles of a similar period, including this one:

A new commission

2010-09-23T14:42:00.002+01:00

Not glass, and not made by me but by Matthew Lane Sanderson. He and I have won a public art pitch to make two pairs of gates for a school in Sheffield. It'll be steel and glass, and is a project I am very excited to be involved in. And the hospital has been shortlisted for an art in hospitals award. Some much-needed positives, at last.

Biennale

2010-09-04T11:59:00.001+01:00

Last weekend was the International Festival of Glass and Biennale. I wasn't in the main show but had a double piece (which I forgot to photograph) at the Dial Glassworks gallery. All very jolly meeting up with glass people, but I felt somehow out of it and went home early.

And where did August go?

Coughton Court

2010-07-28T16:24:00.002+01:00

One of the windows at a charming Elizabethan manor house near Stratford-upon-Avon where we had just been to see Julius Caesar. Pretty - this sort of thing and a lost art in many ways. Our companions at the play admired my glass jewellery, that I was wearing, and ordered 2 necklaces and 2 pairs of earrings just like that. Shows it pays to advertise your own goods. I was boldly wearing all white that evening.

Leerdam - the Stourbridge of Holland

2010-07-27T11:28:00.002+01:00

On our way to Amsterdam, we stopped at the Glass Museum in Leerdam. Though limited in its collection, compared to Broadfield House, the town itself as the Glass Quarter of Holland had so much to teach Stourbridge in terms of creating tourist attractions. I didn't see as much as I wanted, but you could tell from the way it was arranged, street names, restaurant signs, proliferation of galleries, and so on that it was a vibrant town with some manufacture still thriving. Shame the Brits can't recreate that. Pix show some modern whacky wineglasses in nude forms and last century - normally I capture the makers' names but it was hot, the others a bit bored and S wielding the camera.

Where did June go?

2010-07-07T17:33:00.003+01:00

And will July be the same? Spikeabell has shamed me into the realisation that since I have stopped being a student, I have been falling behind in my glass logging - or is that 'glogging' (glugging, more like)? She'd spotted my work on the front page of CGS and must have thought, 'So you have been doing stuff.' Yes, I have. But the impetus to photograph and catalogue things has been waning. That said, here's a picture of my stuff in a cabinet in our Open House as part of East Finchley Artists. It's on this weekend, and last. Seven artists are showing in our house. The two platters on the bottom shelf have little lenses and glisten in the sunlight.

Where did May go?

2010-06-04T18:19:00.008+01:00

Not a single post last month and yet lots has been happening. I've acquired a drawing by Frank Brangwyn and I'm very pleased to own it. I think I haven't reported that I now edit Glass Circle News - am currently putting together the next edition on which this drawing will feature. Well, why not. It's all a very great deal of work and I think it is permissible to follow personal interests - while also keeping in mind what everybody else collects. The paperweight community is well-represented. Who would have thought the one in the picture below [(c) Bonhams] would sell for over £27,000:

Domaine de la Verriere

2010-04-20T11:18:00.003+01:00

Here's a curiosity: a wine label indicative of an industry of glass-bottle-blowers probably in the Ventoux area. Of course, you wouldn't blow a bottle like this, but it's rather quaint all the same. Brought to us in a bottle of rose by friends who'd been overwintering in the Luberon.

As for personal glass-making news; it's all a bit sotto voce at the moment. Gallery sales slow. Nothing cheering happening. And I can't post up the picture of myself with Prince Andrew at the opening of the RNOH because of protocol.

Patrick Reyntiens

2010-04-13T12:04:00.003+01:00

A hilarious evening at Glaziers Hall for a fund-raising event to make a documentary on Patrick Reyntiens - here he is demonstrating how he paints on glass. Drunk as a Lord and enjoying every minute of being centre of attention. At 84 or so you had to admire his spirit and energy - though I didn't buy one ofhis pieces as I found them too primitive. Two more measured presentations about working with him and influences from Graham Jones and Danny Lane. Inspiring in many ways.

Wineglasses - technical drawing

2010-04-01T18:33:00.003+01:00

I am now the proud owner of this drawing by Frank Brangwyn. It's for glasses made by Whitefriars Glasshouse and I love it. I've got enough wineglasses really so here's a new collecting possibility. I'd like to track down one real glass made from these designs, but it is proving really quite difficult - no one seems to know where to find them. Possibly only one set might have been made and it could be languishing in anyone's collection.

Gallery on Holland's Rhine

2010-03-29T16:41:00.004+01:00

This is how they do private views in Holland: a bag of goodies for each of the 7 exhibitors from England (all of whom were there) containing Advokaat, an Edam cheese and chocolate hazelnut Easter eggs. Sales were slow but lots of collectors came and two were very interested in my work and the local paper chose a picture of my blue tippy egg for its review. At the Aventurijn Gallery till 24 April.

Glass Sea

2010-03-05T15:46:00.001Z

I'm just trying out how to embed a video. Let's see what happens.

Sea of Glass from Sean Vicary on Vimeo.

Alembic

2010-03-02T14:07:00.001Z

Seen at the Science Museum at an exhibition of what the west has learned from Islam in a scientific context. This, one-of-the-oldest surviving alembics from Iran in 10th to 12th century, gave us medicine and distillation. The glass is so weathered it looks like silver. One for my erosion collection.

Wineglasses

2010-03-01T11:50:00.002Z

These are mine, though not in the woblet range, being professionally done with my blanks and to my design. A bit too large, in fact. However, they had an airing at dinner last night and one of the guests wants to order some. The economics aren't in my favour, but I am still obsessed by wineglasses so I want to do it.

Packaged and ready to go

2010-02-25T15:03:00.003Z

Two of the new pieces going to Holland. I didn't get into another London show I'd applied for. Wish I didn't get cast down by these little knocks - you have to put yourself out there and be prepared to win some and lose some.

Two months unrecorded

2010-02-04T15:56:00.004Z

I don't know what happened to December and January. Lots of glass things one way and another. Perhaps I felt deflated after the installation in thehospital, but still busy glassing. Two new pieces - one's going to an exhibition in Holland (with 7 other pieces and 7 other glass artists) next month at the Aventurijn Kunstbemiddeling in the Eastern Netherlands, and the other is going to SOFA in New York in April. The perfume choker is getting its first London showing tonight at Heavenly Scent, after dramas getting it back from Barcelona and Madrid. Recent news includes being appointed Editor of Glass Circle News and elected as a Brother of the ArtWorkers’ Guild. So although two months have slipped by unblogged, they have not been idle.

Consulting rooms

2009-12-10T12:40:00.001Z

One of the pictures in the consulting rooms at the hospital. Most are in the more restful blue tones, but I rather like this one and wouldn't mind somehow acquiring a copy. I wonder what the first patients, entering the room next Monday, will think.

Installation day

2009-11-29T17:34:00.011Z

This morning:

This afternoon:

the second one is quite close to my design visualisation

Getting out of the lifts:
1st floor
ground floor
lower ground

And the champagne is on ice.
Framed close-ups from my glass are going into the consulting rooms, but I haven't seen those yet.

Rainbows over Bodmin Moor

2009-11-28T16:18:00.006Z

Regular readers of this blog will have noted that each autumn, at the start of each glass year, I have seen a rainbow. This time, while glassblowing in Cornwall, I saw two. A good omen, I thought. Some chunky stuff sits in the lehr annealing for 4 days and I have hopes that there are some winners in this lot. I can't go to Cornwall again until I make some serious sales.

cf 2 October 2006 (rainbow over the South Downs);3 September 2005 ('Rainbow over Istanbul', scroll down) and 29 September 2004 (rainbow over Malvern Hills). Can't find the 2007 and 2008 ones but I know they were there.

Chase Auction

2009-11-19T13:59:00.002Z

This vase sold at the auction in aid of a children's hospice. Interesting because now both my 'pinch-edged' vases have sold, even though as we were making them we thought they weren't completely working. I like the idea of hand-shaping the contours of a vessel, but realistically I think one would have to make a shaping jig to do it evenly. And that just isn't financially viable.

Echoes in Ely

2009-11-18T12:05:00.003Z

Two charming details from panels at the Stained Glass Museum in Ely Cathedral (a wonderful eyeful in itself, glowing in autumn sunlight as we arrived and then bathed in magical lighting as we left). Top: a 1930s artist (silly not to take the name down) and a sweet little medieval rebec-player - illicitly snapped. Fun looking at glass with other glass-makers, because each of us saw something to share with others and knowing about the techniques involved made it a richer experience. Very nice to get up close to stained glass windows as well. Earlier in the day we'd agreed to hold another Glass Echoes exhibition in September 2011: venue as yet undecided. We'll somehow contrive to keep the echo theme.

at Windows

2009-11-10T13:18:00.002Z

Anything that has a glass connection has a place in this blog. That could be just about everything, but I have to have some limitations. I think Galvin at Windows counts (just as Murano did). 28th floor of the Hilton and we sat at the window for out 40th anniversary of the day we met. And had:

pink Pommery champagne
amuse bouche of butternut squash mousse with parmesan froth

J: oysters with cucumber, ginger & ponzu dressing
S: seared scallops, pumpkin purée, pomegranate, wild chickory, smoked bacon and maple vinaigrette

J: venison on a bed of stranded Savoy cabbage, potato mash swirls and delicious sauce
S: pigeon with beetroot mash and other bits
a very good Rhône (their cheapest at £27

pear tarte tatin for 2 (enough for 4)
Sauternes
coffee with petits fours

an anniversary platter of chocolates (which we took home)

idfx magazine

2009-11-02T14:28:00.002Z

I'm in an article on recycled glass in November's idfx magazine - not a journal I know, but it looks worth getting. I wonder if I will get any approaches as a result of it. Good publicity - in theory. And I told the journalist about Zest - which shares the page - so that's nice. Not sure either of us would have known about the article if I hadn't asked. Also it's a shame a magazine on design doesn't credit the photographer.

Reception piece finalised

2009-10-29T11:33:00.004Z

This is now the final arrangement of the 17 disks (representing the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae) for the RNOH reception desk. We spent an afternoon yesterday tweaking, moving, adjusting the curves and swapping some over to get the right balance. It will now be marked up for these exact positions, the glass carefully removed, then the stainless steel will be sandblasted and brushed to a silky sheen, reassembled (protecting against scratches) and the glass cleaned and gently silicone-fixed into the clips. Then it will be disassembled again and packed ready for installation on 22 November. I can't wait. Now it's getting so close, I just want to have the whole thing safely delivered and handed over.

Koukan take down

2009-10-24T16:51:00.005+01:00

When I arrived to take down the exhibition, I was convinced it had all been to no avail, but the gallery owner gently guided me round and said, Would I like to see all my red dots? What red dots?, I said. And she, with a face like the cat who's got the cream, showed me 5 dots and spaces where something had been removed and sold. I couldn't have been more astonished.

Artists' talks

2009-10-21T17:02:00.003+01:00

We did our artists' talks yesterday to a crowded (! huh) room of about 10. I redeployed some of the PowerPoint I'd done at Zest - which at least interested the gallery owner, so maybe just worth doing. A passer-by actually enquired about Hamlet's goblet (my giant wine glass which is in the window) and said he'd come back. But I don't believe he will. One just has to think, 'You never know. If you don't put yourself out there nothing happens.'

New ideas

2009-10-19T17:15:00.000+01:00

Here's one of Gudawer's photographs of glass details - he's slightly manipulated this one. We've printed up 20 A4-sized prints of different ones to have in the gallery to attract some of the architectural clientele. I'm sure there's a lot of potential in these if one could just find a designer wanting to fill large white walls with some colour and verve.

Win some; lose some

2009-10-16T17:17:00.002+01:00

The good news is that one of my pieces taken by a gallery in Corning has sold. The bad news is that my duo show at the Koukan Gallery opened yesterday and only 4 of my invitees came. Nothing sold for either of us. The good news is that I swapped these fine earrings for one of my pieces on show. I would have done this anyway, but it was a nice venue for seeing my work. The not-so-bad news is that I didn't sell at Art London, though much admired, they told me.

Art London

2009-10-08T10:18:00.005+01:00

Last night was the private view of Art London - very champagne and Chelsea set. I have two pieces on the Zest stand and I don't suppose I'll have many opportunities to exhibit in the same space as the likes of John Piper, Elizabeth Frink and Damien Hirst. So it's quite nice. There was nothing on show I would truly have liked to own and some of the prices were goggle-worthy. A lot of meticulously executed still-lifery.

Construction in progress

2009-10-03T11:04:00.004+01:00

We had lunch in the workshop in Cambridgeshire where the metalwork for my RNOH project is being constructed. This is how it is looking - not yet finished, but it was in my contract that it should be finally approved by the Commissioner before installation. Which it was. We'd changed the fixing method since they had seen the prototype and I was confidently nervous. Another couple of days now to fit the last pieces (17 altogether, representing the thoracic and lumbar disks of the spine). Then, when I've made my last tweaks, it will get a brush polish and be taken down ready for installation at the venue in mid November. Oh, and the Opera House eggs went into a pear and almond tart which everyone said was outstandingly delicious. A good day.

Murano

2009-10-01T13:18:00.005+01:00

It's sometimes challenging to make everything in this blog glass-related. Lunch yesterday at Gordon Ramsey's fine dining (and oddly named) Murano just squeezes in, though the, um, 'chandelier' with bits of glass in it pictured above wasn't very Murano-glass-ish and didn't match up to the superb cuisine (exquisite amuses bouches including risotto marbles, basil sorbet, pesto truffles, lemon and earl grey ice). The second picture I can't justify, but must blog it because these are the free-est-range eggs you can think of - laid onstage at the Royal Opera House last night during the dress rehearsal of Carmen - calm hens all right. We're having them for supper tonight (the eggs, not hens). OK, I'll serve them on a glass plate.

Space and Place conference

2009-09-28T18:05:00.010+01:00

The Contemporary Glass Society conference was at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which was autumnally beautiful - shame not be indoors really. However, the theme was architectural glass and I found it inspiring and informative with good speakers and lots of information and chat. Didn't take many pictures, but one I did take was (illicitly) at the Park's special exhibition on Peter Randall-Page because his sketchbooks were inspirational and prolific. I work in a different way, though I sometimes think the real artist sketches all the time, which I don't. The other pic shows painting using the effects of colour on smashed glass.

Martini glasses again

2009-09-24T17:58:00.003+01:00

Went to see the Bombay Sapphire martini glass finalists and winners for the 4th year running. I still keep forgetting to note when the entry date is so I can try for it - though I know from the kinds of shapes they choose that I don't have a chance. It's always the same, somehow. The winner was a classic shape this time - a bit understated, but (as the barman told me as we had our first [of 5] cocktail) it held 7 fluid ounces, which is a proper martini's-worth, whereas most of them were too small.

The stolen glass

2009-09-19T09:59:00.004+01:00

We've just been to Paris (again) and dined one night at Le Verre Volé; a wine shop that also serves food just by the canal near the flat we stay in. Somewhat quirky but I couldn't resist the name. Other interesting glass in various museums. I was a bit inspired by some glass by Maurice Marinot seen in the otherwise pretty dreary museum of modern art, which made me reflect on the kind of work I am doing. But what really got me slavvering was not glass, but the ceramics and lacquer in the Musee Guimet. The craftsmanship and the fine eye for pleasing shapes. And the sense of humour in this crab and shrimp - I loved it.

An international week

2009-09-03T18:41:00.003+01:00

I have been invited to be in two exhibitions in Europe this week. In November/December my jewellery will be part of a large recycling project in Madrid's Moda Shopping Centre; and in March/April next year as part of a small group exhibiting at the Aventurijn Gallery (left) which specialises in contemporary glass art in Eastern Netherlands. Both invitations came this week. And today the Koukan Gallery confirmed that they'd like me again for a duo show in October - though I do rather feel it's a bit soon after Zest and I'm not sure it is wise to do it.

Trip to Copenhagen

2009-08-30T17:45:00.007+01:00

We've just spent 5 days in Copenhagen where we saw quite a bit of glass, but my cameraman didn't click any of it except these rather nice bowls seen in a gallery in one of the main streets. Although we thought it an expensive city, the glass and furniture in this shop didn't seem hors de combat. I forget what these cost, but they seemed reasonable. I wonder if we don't price ourselves out of the market in the UK.

Lots of interesting pieces in the Kunstindustrimuseet including this classic 1920s glass lamp by Wilhelm Wagenfeld which we've got.

Design - Solo Show 2nd party

2009-08-21T11:55:00.002+01:00

Lots going on glasswise even though I haven't blogged for a bit. I have commissioned the metalwork for RNOH and am currently arranging my chosen pieces on my studio wall at half life size. I've done about 8 versions (of which this is the current favourite) - tissue paper on top of that to draw out the metal structure. We've jointly come to some possibly better solutions. Though at the closing party last night for my Zest show, I looked at the prototype hanging there and thought it actually does work rather well. Nice visitors drinking fizz - but no buyers. Total sold = 5, which apparently isn't bad for the time of year.

Artist Talk evening

2009-07-24T18:46:00.003+01:00

Just one screen from my PowerPoint presentation last night. I talked about the motivation for design and about how my pieces are made. Lots of illustrations. Packed house. I was very conscious that it was hot and people were crammed into a small space - so I romped through. But I think people were interested. The whole thing is at this link on my website.

Zest private view

2009-07-16T10:56:00.004+01:00

Three (rather yellowish) pictures of my exhibition just as the private view was beginning. In one of them you can just see that I am dressed to match one of the blow-up photographs. I thought these looked very good. Lots of compliments from all who came, but the red dots were very sparse. It's early days, of course, and probably largely a non-buying guest list. Perhaps the architects and interior designers come during the day. More online at Zest.

Exhibition preview

2009-07-14T14:14:00.000+01:00

Just 4 of something like 30 pieces that are going into my show at Zest opening tomorrow. Having a solo show is pretty scary - and a very great deal of work. Just signing and packing them all up and loading the car took a whole day. There are some pieces I am very happy with and some that are quite nice. But one just doesn't know how it'll be received.

Close-ups

2009-07-07T14:08:00.004+01:00

My collaborator at Blink Art has been working on details of my glass to create abstract pictures. I'm completely thrilled with the results. Top one and last one are in the exhibition, the larger one blown up to 1 metre wide - I have to say, they look fabulous.

Glass in Majorca

2009-06-27T13:06:00.003+01:00

A furnace near Palma (same as anywhere else - output not inspiring), a crucifix in a bottle (never seen that before) and some apothecary jars in the monastery in Valldemossa where Chopin and George Sand stayed in the winter of 1853 (read her book while there and was struck by how little she said about him). A holiday that had nothing to do with glass - but you can always find something to do with glass to log wherever you go.

Corning

2009-06-17T17:54:00.003+01:00

I'm back home now; this is my last day at Corning - with the pool I swam in on the one and only sunny day of the whole trip (luckily the Sunday when there were no lectures). The gallery where my swirl piece is showing - where we had a tame little private view. Oh and did I go the wrong way - no I don't think so (that's the Museum of Glass in the background).

Glass Art Society Conference in Corning

2009-06-14T14:54:00.004+01:00

I am still in Corning so these pictures are uploaded unedited (and are rather poor). They're all taken in the Museum of Glass, where the conference was mostly held, and show some random choices from their absolutely stunning collection of glass. The fruit bowl is giant. They have everything there and it has been nice being able to browse about each day, rather than going through a whole collection at one sitting. The technological section was as interesting as the art.

The conference was very good - lots of ideas to take home and absorb. I think the highlight was a fashion show of costumes made with glass - copious imaginative bead work creations, corsets of kiln-cast elements, a bustle made out of a batch bag, a coat with plastic champagne glass stuck to it, a neon crinoline, a cast ballet dress, a glittering pyjama suit with dichroic panels sewn on. The whole thing lasted about an hour with one after another splendid creations and pretty girls (and the occasional chap) flouncing up and down the catwalk as if they were professionals. Fab.

Tonight is the private view of our exhibition, and a gallery here is interested in taking my two pieces after the show if they don't sell (they won't) so at least there will be an after life for them.

Three more sheets

2009-05-24T12:50:00.008+01:00

I like these large sheets (about 2 ft 6 ins by 1 ft 6 ins). At the moment, I have one of them pinned to a window in my studio and it looks lovely as the sun comes round. There's some mileage here but I am not sure what yet. Or where to put them while I am thinking about it. I need a client with imagination who loves colour - they'd look good in a large space built into a dividing wall flanked by safety glass. Or instead of frosted glass in a space where you don't want people to look through a window but you want to let light in. Or over a door instead of leaded glass. Suggestions welcomed.

Autumn Swirl

2009-05-18T19:08:00.005+01:00

The official title of this piece for the 'Same Difference' exhibition - now completely finished and in its stand - is The Colour of Autumn. It's because I didn't completely know what I would be showing when I had to submit my blurb. Perhaps I can change it as the Americans will put 'Color' on the list. Thanks due to three fine craftsmen who helped me with the various stages of this. It's looking good. I can't send the sheet, though. There was a little crack that has to be ground out and I've run out of time. It would certainly have broken in transit.

Abstract painting

2009-05-07T16:22:00.003+01:00

A professional picture of the glass sheet that came about as a result of that disheartening day trying to blow bullion when everything went wrong. If I can pack it up really securely (scary) then it is going to Corning in June. We've now done 2 more which aren't as nice (not professionally photographed either) so that gives me courage.

Got the T-shirt

2009-05-03T14:02:00.004+01:00

The Corning T-shirt design was almost this one, with my piece on it. But in the end another was chosen by a whisker, I was told. However, they're going to make one up specially for me, since the design is already done. Well, that'll be fun - to wear it at the Glass Art Society conference at Corning in June. Someone might notice.

SOFA display

2009-05-01T14:00:00.002+01:00

Returned home to a picture of the display cabinet at SOFA. The one of mine (middle, second row from the bottom) sold and so did another one which doesn't seem to be in this picture. Thrilling that they sold two pieces.

A mirror in Sicily

2009-04-30T13:56:00.003+01:00

This is just an excuse to blog our trip to Sicily, shown here partly through a mirror. Not much other glass - a few Roman remains at Solunto, and lots of lush chandeliers in the baroque churches of Palermo; 100s of them (churches, that is).

Shadows

2009-04-26T13:04:00.002+01:00

These are the shadows a little set of glass plates made on the wall, with the sun streaming in through the opposite window. I am sure something can be done with this effect - preferably in colour.

Bookbinding

2009-04-25T15:02:00.005+01:00

The glass connection is the stained glass fragment of a luteplayer in our room at West Dean where we have both been doing a 5-day bookbinding course - the other pictures show me tooling, Stephen paring leather, and our joint display of finished books (my table left, his right). Very satisfying. I'll be using the blue one as my next glass notebook. Strange that the glass shows a lutenist yet neither of us noticed until the last day. Not only that, but the film on Edward James has a shot of the churchyard seen through this very window.

Site visit

2009-04-17T17:18:00.002+01:00

Well, here we are in the reception area of the hospital and here's the wall on which my spinal structure is going to hang. It's good to have seen it like this because it is going to be so different in just 33 weeks time. Both my metal artist and I feel much more confident that it's all going to work now we've seen it. And there's a good 18mm of ply behind the plasterboard so we know fixing it is going to be fine. What a good thing we thought of that weeks ago and not have a shock-horror moment now. After that, we went on to the architect's new offices (light and airy) and talked about lighting. I think it's going to be OK.

Photographer photographing Mark 2

2009-04-06T19:20:00.002+01:00

This is why artists can't take good pictures of their own work. Look at all the equipment! Went up to Dudley today to have the sheet photographed properly and look forward to seeing the results. The blue look on his screen is an illusion. Got a preview glimpse of the catalogue for Corning with my other piece in it (very nearly chosen for the cover) and it did look pretty good I must say.

Opened out cylinder

2009-04-02T16:13:00.005+01:00

This is the cylinder now opened out into a flat sheet with my West Midlands collaborator. We both really like this and I am putting this one forward for the Corning Same Difference exhibition. So why was I so dismal in my 'failure' posting about everything going wrong last time? Just shows that you have to work at things and find an opportunity in something apparently going wrong.

Glass Echoes 2

2009-03-26T11:29:00.006Z

Here's my alcove in the Crypt Gallery - phenomenally hard to photograph. Stephen took these and fellow exhibitor Andrew Graves-Johnston has posted all his photos of Glass Echoes 2 on Flickr. I struggled a bit with the lighting - though it looks better than this. The port-hole at the back was easier to light because I could diffuse it with tracing paper. I think the exhibition was successful, but it is difficult to tell when you are close to it.

Very nearly 100% success

2009-03-17T18:10:00.006Z

I have found my blower at last. Just as I was beginning to lose confidence in my idea because of the fall-out rate and the difficulties inherent in the technique, I spent a day in Cornwall with a team who approached it differently. I've come away with some rondels I really like - and only one of them went a bit wrong (warped in the lehr), but even that one is OK compared to the last 10 or so made in various hotshops. And Cornwall is very pretty, the sun shone, and I had a very pleasant jaunt (I needed to be there the day before to prepare and the day after to collect). I'm not saying the other hotshops I have tried can't do this too, but the real bonus is that we were using lead glass, not soda, and it is just much nicer - twice the price too, a long drive, but certainly worth it.

Failure revisited

2009-03-10T12:37:00.003Z

There's no such thing as 100% failure because ideas arise out of something that didn't work the first time. The West Midlands collaboration continues and after further thought and discussion, this cylinder moderates what happened on my last trip. Ideas for lighting here. But I think we are going to open this out and flatten it to see what that effect is.

Photographs taken up in Dudley yesterday for the Corning exhibition.

100% failure

2009-03-05T10:43:00.003Z

Up to the West Midlands yesterday with 6 of my 'embryo' blanks to blow out for the hospital project. Not a single one worked. The best one - shown left - fell off the paddle and broke just as we were putting it away into the lehr. Another folded and cracked. But not a single one was any good - even to give away as a 'second'. Very disheartening (not to mention time-consuming and expensive). Ah well, win some; lose some.

'Unpolished' Jewellery Exhibition

2009-03-01T16:39:00.004Z

How nice - I am in the Unpolished exhibition of experimental jewellery online at the CGS website. 28 pieces selected (of course one doesn't know how many submissions they had). Still acceptance always feels encouraging.

A 5-day glassblowing course

2009-02-21T12:13:00.004Z

I have just spent 5 days at the Liquid Glass Centre reacquainting myself with hot glass, which I have been missing. We went through all the basics (good for me, if mildly frustrating) and I think I understood something about gathering that I haven't grasped before. The last piece I made (which is still there) might be quite nice, but everything else rather indifferent. A lot of standing about involved, so I watched what was going on in the kiln course in the next room as well. They were making sweets with glass rods, and marbling by combing molten glass inside the kiln.

Valentine field of flowers

2009-02-14T16:28:00.002Z

I ought to have thought, and made one of these with a hearts motif - though possibly that is a bit naff for an exhibition. Here's my third piece for SOFA. So there's a unifying theme now which I think helps them sell each other. It would be chuffing if they did sell.

Secret inside

2009-02-11T15:36:00.006Z

This one has got a bowl inside a bowl inside a globe, and inside you get double colours. But I really wanted that on the outside and forgot that the white opal would block the double illusion effect. I know what to do to get it, though it'll be too late for SOFA New York which is where this one is destined for. Might be effective if you shine a light inside. Or else it'll be a secret effect when you look inside - like a beautiful box with an elaborate interior.

Painting in glass

2009-02-08T17:59:00.008Z

And this is how the one pictured last time turned out. Fabulous colours. Just one small 'mistake' with a colour called anna green (after someone's daughter) which is just OK, but was just a bit too soft to go with the rest. Very pleased with the results of this session, though we didn't get any large rondels done. There's still time for those. And I was having fun playing with ideas. There has to be something in this technique, though most people won't realise how labour-intensive it is.

Blowing in West Brompton

2009-02-04T15:57:00.000Z

A second session today is looking good. Though you never can tell until everything is out of the lehr. We did 7 pieces of various sizes in about the same time as at Alvechurch, so that's now my bench-mark of expectation. I rather enjoyed it today and there's no doubt that London is easier, though I quite like going up to the West Midlands now and again.

Blowing in Alvechurch

2009-01-24T17:26:00.002Z

Back up to my old haunts yesterday where a gaffer who used to work at Royal Brierley blew some of my blanks into rondels. A good experience, though none of them are an absolute 'wow'. Getting the ones I need for the hospital project is not going to be easy and is going to cost a fair amount in time, effort and money. But it is good to get away and I did get a few new ideas.

Photographer photographing

2009-01-22T12:24:00.003Z

The photographer doing the RNOH photography for the interiors came today and took a few snaps of my rondels (his pic below) - to get the measure of what the space is like in my studio and what would be needed. I learned a lot about photographing glass and am very excited at the idea of working with him on this project. It seems that details of the glass installation are going to be echoed in photographs flat-mounted on aluminium in various parts of the building. So I am all enthused again about making all the pieces for it.

(c) Blink Art

Prince Rupert Drop

2009-01-15T13:04:00.000Z

Terrible picture, but quite sculptural in a way. My latest piece of jewellery. Made to a brief that encourages the 'impractical'. Well, this plays on the idea of impracticability, bordering on dangerous. It's a Prince Rupert drop whose bulbous end withstands blows, whereas break the tail-end and the whole disintegrates, demonstrating the strength and explosive fragility of glass as well as its natural sculptural beauty. King Charles 1 teased courtiers with these (he liked to give them to people to hold and then tapped the end so they pulversied in the hand), so I thought why not make a wearable practical joke. As a matter of fact, I dropped it on a hard floor and nothing happened. The one on green (if you click to enlarge) shows it more clearly.

New Year

2009-01-08T15:14:00.002Z

I've been hibernating these last few weeks, with very little glass activity. I ought to go in for a competition or apply for something, just to keep myself up to the mark. This fractal-of-the-day inspires me, however. There's something appealingly glassy about it.

Strictly Come Glassing

2008-12-24T13:22:00.006Z

My Christmas card this year is a little booklet adapted from The Little Book of Why Glass - with additions and subtractions. This is the (topical) cover. As usual, I've made some, but most are being emailed in the form of a Make-it-Yourself kit. Here's a pdf of the finished booklet, but it's not very readable.

Open House

2008-12-09T11:25:00.003Z

This is the season of home sales and open studios, so I had one too. And jolly successful it was too. All the jewellery went, most of the Christmas decorations and some of the more expensive pieces found good homes too. People are still phoning up to ask about something they were thinking about. Recession? What recession? It's all been very encouraging from my point of view.

Christmas show

2008-11-21T15:29:00.003Z

I am going to be in this exhibition opening next week and am busy making Christmas decorations for it - little quasi mobiles of 5 snowflakes of different glass textures. Am having some fun though I cannot see this being a money-spinner as it is fairly laborious and one cannot charge very much.

Contemporary Art Glass Museum of Alcorcon

2008-11-19T11:05:00.006Z

An exhibition opens today in Madrid for which two of my pieces were selected on the basis of photographs submitted. The other one is pictured lower down the page - the theme was recycling. But the organisers never told me. So I didn't send them. And of course I am now not in the exhibition or the catalogue. I am extremely disappointed, as can well be imagined. And what makes it worse is that it is probably my fault. I should have checked the website, but I didn't realise that. I'd thought there would be an email.

Rondel blowing

2008-11-13T14:04:00.004Z

Some of these aren't actually 'round' rondels and some are views inside bowls, but I've started on the rondels for the hospital project. These were done at London Glassblowing and there's one really successful one and the others are variously nice to a little bit faulty. All in all, I'm pretty pleased but I can see that I am going to need to make quite a lot to get 20 that are right for the project.

Private view

2008-10-30T11:15:00.003Z

The piece in the window looked particularly effective at night - everybody said so. I made one sale and met the buyer from yesterday. A good crowd and everyone entertained with sushi and wine.

Koukan Gallery

2008-10-29T12:54:00.001Z

Everything is now ready for the private view of my duo show at the Koukan Gallery tonight. Looking rather better than I had anticipated. I think our work complements each other quite well and fills the space quite nicely. Shame we can't adjust the lighting a little better. BoneScape in the window looks really good at night when it is dark outside. I'm pleased to have it on view again. I have already sold one piece, the smallest and cheapest, but it all helps to cover costs.

Bowes Museum

2008-10-22T12:24:00.002+01:00

It's very difficult to take pictures of glass in museums, and there was surprisingly little glass at the Bowes Museum - lots of porcelain and silver. This is Bohemian engraved layed glass of the early 19th century. Quite an unusual colour. However, we had a good go at the junk shops in Barnard Castle (of which there were lots) and saw various tempting rummers. I resisted, though. I honestly don't need any more wineglasses. Is this a sign of growing up?

Koukan gallery

2008-10-10T09:46:00.003+01:00

They've chosen the same picture for the invitation as for the MA show. Perhaps I shouldn't have offered it - but it is effective and pertinent to our title. Mostly a different clientele too. I am doing this in hopes of attracting one of the gallery owner's architect contacts. It's a very attractive white space in which my work should look good (I hope). Quite different from The Crypt; perhaps better for glass.

Jewellery

2008-10-02T17:44:00.005+01:00

I haven't been idle. Three jewellery things are in progress. I am making a couple of chokers for an exhibition featuring recycled glass; a necklace was auctioned at the National Liberty Museum (attendance at the auction $200); and some jewellery is to go on show at the Christmas exhibition at the Koukan Gallery - where I am also going to have a duo show of larger work with a ceramicist from 27 October to 8 November. So I am working for that.

Beginning a new era

2008-09-24T17:27:00.003+01:00

This is me, clambering over the installation sculpture Slice of Reality by Richard Wilson during Open House Weekend. In the distance are the glass towers of Canary Wharf. Is this an omen for a future of financial success as a glass artist? We'll see. I have done spectacularly well in my MA. Not that that means anything. But I have spent a week or so relaxing a bit and thinking about what I want to do over the next year. No quick conclusions.

And that's it

2008-09-11T10:36:00.002+01:00

So here's the gate banging shut on my MA for the last time. But it's not the end. I'll be coming back as an alumnus (or should it be alumna?) to use the facilities and check in for advice. A very nice exchange with the chaps suggested a welcoming open door and a willingness to help in the future. And lots of positive comments on what I have achieved and done in the last two years. I needed that. So on my final day as a student, I departed with an upbeat feeling. Not a bang exactly; but not a whimper either.