Gerhard Richter - Cologne Cathedral

Finished this August, this impressive stained glass window in Cologne Cathedral has been made from 11,500 four-inch 'pixels', cut from antique - or handmade - glass in a total of 72 different colours, and measures 110m2. Richter is an artist who works in many different media, and this window relates to his 1974 painting entitled '4096 Colours'. In the transition from painting to glass, Richter didn't use the original 4096 colours, as they would've been historically inaccurate or too pale, outshining those squares around them. Instead he chose a palette to echo the colours of the glass that would've been available in the 13th century.
Apparently the Archbishop of Cologne isn't happy with the window, preferring the more traditional figurative approach. The window seems to link the 21st century with the 13th very successfully, both in its' use of antique glass and with the archaic hues, but also in its' mosaic-like appearance. Medieval glass uses lots of little pieces of glass and is rich in colour and texture. I likes it, me.

Artisan mizmo ??!!

If you're thinking 'Artisan what?' or 'mizmo who?', then we're in the same boat... I found these photos in Flickr, and they were credited to Artisan mizmo, so I feel obliged to do the same.
The panels use very simple painted decorative techniques to great effect. If you want to add detail and pattern in addition to that which the lead itself makes, this is a really effective method.
All of the panels have had the paint applied all over - a matt - and then, when it's dry the paint has been scraped away with various implements to reveal the coloured glass beneath. Just like that wax crayon thing we used to do at school!
The red centre panel in the bottom one is red on yellow flashed glass - it's been freely etched at the top to reveal the yellow base layer.

Devon Guild exhibition poster

Here's the details of the Devon exhibition I mentioned last week. I've yet to see it - I had the luxury of letting someone else hang it for a change. Let me know what you think if you see it before I do!

Geeks unite!

It's not that I'm saying you're a geek - and you know who you are - but here's a select few of the glass panels inspired by, well, geeky subjects! For the beginners, you could do all of these except Spiderman - but what do you expect from a super hero?

Peter Hammond - latest masterpiece

This is the Clifton house before the installation of Peter's windows. A little bare and in need of an original Hammond, methinks.


'Ere they be on the grass, waiting to find their rightful home.


Magnificent. I like the way the pink and white strip is weaving it's way happily around the larger blue and yellow shapes. It brings music to mind. Apparently Peter's client was so happy with the result, he wants the remaining five windows done too. That's what we like to hear!

Glass summer courses - London

Just so's you know there is a glass world outside Queens Road... Don't tell me if you go to one of these though, instead of mine or Scott's!!!! Only joking - the Pate de Verre one looks particularly interesting if you want to learn something new.

It's that Mark Angus again

Another figure emerges from Mark's creative world... or should that be whirl?

Here's what he says about the newest member of his growing community...

Thank you for the positive feedback! I look forward to the flicker!! I attatch an image from a series of 30 I made, float glass, etched, completely silver stained, line painted 60 x 47 cm.. I like it a lot!!!

Talking of flickr, I've put lots of images from Mark's demonstration day up, including the fired pieces. I'll mail you the link as I can't seem to get them live on the blog.

Mark Angus - demos and lecture day

I've managed to arrange a visit from Mark Angus (who taught me at Queens Road!) on Saturday 5th April, 9.30-4.

He's going to show us how he works, what inspires him, and lots of top tips from his years as a glass artist. He'll also be giving us a slide lecture of his work. This is a really great opportunity to learn lots of new things.

It should cost between £20-30 (depending on numbers) which covers paying Mark and overtime for the porter Geoff for the afternoon - a complete snip.

Could you let me know if you're interested (those not in my class), by mailing me on info@millyfrances.com, so I can get an idea of numbers?

Thanks.

For sale - various glass and a grinder

If you need a grinder, there's a very clean one for sale for £35 ono. That's less than half price. I have it at college if anyone's interested.

Also, a selection of glass is available to buy. If interested, give Sue Davis a ring on 01275 849935 and she'll give you more idea of what she's got.

Kiln for Sale

Kiln for Sale

A Rare Happening - a kiln for sale.

It's a Paragon DTC 800, condition as new, for £900 ono.

It's not a flat bed but a front loader, and has a chamber size of 34 X 56cm.

Buyer to collect. (that's the catch!)

If you're interested, give Sue Davis a ring on 01275 849935

Peter Hammond's latest commission

Esteemed student Peter Hammond has just completed this commission for a house in Clifton. The brief was to create a window that didn't obscure the view yet provided some visual interest. Peter's done that perfectly with the small areas of colour set into the necessary structure of the surrounding glass. Oh, and he also built the frame and fixed it all in himself, so if you need a handy man...
The guy who lives in the flat upstairs was so taken with it, he's asked Peter to do about 100 windows for his flat - the sort of commission I work for months to get!

Mark Angus reappears...

... with a possible idea for a masterclass? What do we think?

Dear Milly,
These days I am spending most of my time glass painting, - I have come a long way in 8 years!! I attatch a sample - the second is a vase, I am painting these in numbers!!
I love it.

Just as I did last Easter, I shall again this coming Easter get a day teaching my glass painting technique at the Bath College. But it would be good for me to step again into QR if you would ever invite me.
In Bath I get 100 pounds which the students from all courses collect together, it is very little each!! Or maybe it was 120 I cannot remember. (We have the EUR here!)

My way now, (Excluding acid which I cannot demonstrate in Bath) is with black enamel, with oils, and transparent enamels , - one firing. Very free, very spontaneous.
I use silver stains a lot too, and I work on every type of glass, including 3D forms.
You can see more on www.markangus.com

So.
What about it!
Are you interested???

Greetings, Mark

Corning and big paperweights

As befitting the United States of Americal, here's The Biggest Paperweight in the Universe. All the trees and foliage were lampworked and then rolled up (technical term) in a great big blob (technical term) of glass by lots of burly blokes... It was a very beautiful thing. “Megaplanet” is a 107-pound orb with a kaleidoscope of landscapes and underwater scenes inside, and is the one thousandth paperweight in the paperweight collection at Corning. I declined to look at the other 999.


From heavy to delicate, and the wonders of lampworking... Thankfully this was in a glass case, away from my back pack.


Silvia Levenson is an Argentinian artist, who lives in Milan. The political instability she experienced plays out in her work.


Fancy an apple? These were rather enormous, very shiny and beautifully edible... for your most hated enemies only.

Glass sellers Prize and exhibition

The Glass Sellers Prize 2007 is an annual prize, which this year has been awarded to Richard Jackson for Triune IV, a courageous and dynamic sculpture in cast glass. Richard carves his sculptures with diamond saws - very dangerous, but the effects are spectacular. He's based in Stroud, and his website? http://www.richardjackson-glass.com


The Glass Sellers Prize for Engraving went to Katharine Coleman for her masterpiece, City Blocks Vase. Katherine's work has also been selected for the Side by Side exhibition I told you about in Bovey Tracey, and is exquisite. Katherine doesn't seem to have her own website, but you can see some of her work on: http://www.adriansassoon.com/glass/glassp3.asp?ArtistID=78


The Glass Sellers Student award was given to Ramon Beaskoetxea Sans for Bullfighting, a large installation and a powerful indictment of his country’s cruel sport. There's some of his work on his college graduation website: http://globalglassgradshow.com/artists/
 
A runners-up prize in the student category was awarded to Hang-Sheun Yeung for her charming, delicate Fish’s Tale.
 
The exhibition takes place through September to 19th October 2007 at The Glass Art Gallery, London, and includes an exciting array of works by all those shortlisted, as well as past winners. The work covers a broad range of techniques and styles and the majority of pieces on show are for sale.
 
Other exhibiting artists are: Scott Chaseling (highly commended), James Denison-Pender, Shelley Doolan, Carrie Fertig, June Kingsbury, Gayle Matthias (highly commended), Lesley Pyke, Marie Retpen, Steven Reveley, Bruno Romanelli, Peter Russell, Norma Sales, Tracey Sheppard, Nancy Sutcliffe, and Ruby Woo as well as 2006 Winners, June Kingsbury, Tracey Nicholls, Colin Reid and Jessica Townsend.

Corning Museum of Glass

I couldn't resist this - it was in the exhibition entitled 'Curiosities of Glassmaking' - full of fantastic exhibits such as glass made when lightening struck sand dunes etc. The two green vessels are – you’ll never guess – Fire Grenades. They’re blown glass from 17-18th century Europe and must’ve been hugely effective… not. They were filled with water and tossed into the fire. So now you know what to do next time there’s a bush fire.


This is a glass mosaic from the end of the nineteenth century. T'were a very beautiful thing.

Glass exhibition - Bovey Tracey

Here's an opportunity not to be missed - an international glass exhibition in Devon! It's been organised by the Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) - click on their link on the right of this page to find out more about them and about the glassy happenings in the south west over the next few weeks organised as their ten-year anniversary celebration.

The CGS is also organising a fab conference rather unimaginatively entitled 'Looking into Glass' at the end of this month. If you're interested I have the details at Queens Road, or you can find them on the CGS website too.

Very fair stood the wind for Fairford

Hot off the presses! As you can see by the sunny picnic, we caught what must've been the only sunny day of summer at Fairford. I'm afraid I took more photos of the eating than the windows, but here's an overview:


Three of the 28 medieval windows - c.1500



Trapped in Fairford hell



Food, glorious food



Poor loves, they were a bit confused...

Cathy's New York experience

Back in April I spent a few days in New York. My guidebook pointed me in the direction of a couple of churches with interesting stained glass so I paid them a visit. The first was St Ann and the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights. Almost all the windows in this church were designed by an English man,William J. Bolton between 1844 and 1888. Apparently the cycle of windows is the first of its kind in America and has been declared a National Historic Landmark. Rather amazingly the windows are national treasures considered by architectural historians to be comparable to those at Canterbury and Chartres. And yet the church seemed to be rather forgotten and was all in darkness until the caretaker spotted us and switched the lights on revealing windows with beautiful jewel-like colours. We were invited to go upstairs to see the windows on the upper level from balconies that ran down each side of the church. It was fantastic to be able to get so close to the windows and really study them. The two pictures here show details from two windows.
The second church I visited was on Madison Avenue, not far from the Empire State Building. Although most of the windows in the Church of the Incarnation were fairly bog standard late Victorian fare (by British glass studios) there were some remarkable exceptions as not only were American stained glass artists represented in windows by Tiffany and La Farge but there were also windows designed by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. I have to say that the latter two were much more to my taste. The American technique seems to be one of using very small peices of glass to create detail rather than paint and etching. In one La Farge window he used oil paints for a portrait with a rather blurry effect. It was a very dull day when I visited which didn't do the American windows, with their heavy leading, any favours either. The pictures here show some details of the Burne Jones and a La Farge.

Lead 'cloth' !!!!!!!

I went to an exhibition at the weekend, where Sue Lawty, the artist, showed some pieces using woven lead. It was so rich, it made me appreciate the textural quality of the material all over again. Unfortunately the exhibition's over, but this photo will give you an idea.

Summer schools at Falmouth University College

Here's some details of some summer workshops in Glass coldworking and mould making at Falmouth University College.
Contact details are at the bottom of the page.

Glass coldworking 3 day workshop
Summerschool
16th, 17th and 18th July 2007

Coldworking is a term used to describe cutting, engraving, grinding and polishing to produce a finished piece of glass. This workshop will introduce you to some of those processes and specialist machinery so that by the end of the workshop you will be able to finish your own piece of kiln-formed glass. You could choose to bring along glass items that you have been previously made, or be given a block of glass to work on as a means to introducing you to the machinery and hand grinding techniques. It is preferable to bring along cast glass items but some of the processes will also suit fused and slumped glass work.

Students would need to bring along: permanent maker pen or chinagraph pencil, a container for water eg, a plastic bottle, ppe (plastic apron), mask, craft knife and rubber gloves

Cost £180


Mould making for glass slumping and open casting

Summerschool
10th and 11th July 2007

This workshop will introduce you to basic mould making recipes so that simple, yet versatile moulds can be produced for two differing Kiln-formed glass processes. It depends what type of glass you place into/over a mould and the temperature to which the kiln is fired as to what the end result will be: Sheet glass can either be slumped into or over a mould in the kiln to create a new form and texture. Gentle, controlled heating of the surface of the sheet glass causes it to soften and deform in the kiln. Alternatively, glass cullet (chunks of broken glass) can be placed into a mould and heated until the glass melts to take on a solid shape (open casting). You will have the opportunity to make models out of a variety of materials, and working on a small scale, be able to begin to explore both processes. It would be beneficial if you had some experience of glass cutting in order to take full advantage of the time available.

Cost £199

Book the glass coldworking workshop at the same time and save £44
Both workshops £335

For further information please call:
Vicki Brotherhood, Design Centre Bureau Service Co-Ordinator on: 01326 370756 or email:- vic.brotherhood@falmouth.ac.uk