2019 Festival - not one but three Artists in Residence!

In a Festival first, the 2019 Festival of Glass will feature not one but three international Artists in Residence.

Davide at work in Murano

Firstly, Murano glass master Davide Penso makes a welcome return to the Festival of Glass. Davide was our international Artist in Residence in 2016 and was a great hit with the general public who attended his demonstrations and with the people attending his three workshops.

Davide is internationally renowned as a master of flamework, but also as a jewellery designer and creator. He will demonstrate his skills as a flameworker at "Twilight Flames" and at the Festival Expo; and he will give personalised guidance to students at "The Jewellery Lab" - four days of intense experimentation and creativity.

The sub-title of this unique event is "From wondering to wearing", because at "The Jewellery Lab", students can turn their jewellery ideas into finished pieces and then show them off at a gala "Glitz and Glam" evening.

Karina and Cédric at work in Montreal

Our second and third Artists in Residence will be Cédric Ginart and Karina Guevin, from Montreal, Canada. Cedric is a scientific glass blower and glass artist, who has worked with scientists, artists, industrialists, designers and architects; Karina Guevin is a sculptor and a glass artist, renowned for her technical and aesthetic innovation.

Karina and Cédric will join Davide Penso at "Twilight Flames"; at "Torch and Talk" they will create their own flamboyant versions of extraordinary  Venetian glass goblets; and at their "More is Better" workshop, they'll show you how to do it!

Twilight Flames: The Range at Curlewis. 16 February at 6.30pm. Tickets: http://www.festivalofglass.net.au

The Jewellery Lab:  Zoo cafe, Drysdale High Street. 21 – 24 February.

Registration and information: http://www.festivalofglass.net.au

Torch and Talk:  Zoo cafe, Drysdale High Street

 More is Better:  Zoo cafe, Drysdale High Street. 13 – 15 February. 9.00am – 5.00pm.

Locals benefit from Festival’s Bottle Day

Two historic bottles from Drysdale fetched record prices at an online auction in July.

The Les Bray St. Arnaud

The bottles were ‘discovered’ at an Historic Bottle Appraisal Day - part of the 2016 Festival of Glass in Drysdale, Victoria.

One of the bottles was a Les Bray St. Arnaud ginger beer bottle, made between 1900 and 1918. Its estimated price was between $200 and $250, but it sold for a record $650!

The other bottle was a hand blown wine bottle from Oxford University’s Magdalene College. It has a glass seal dated 1740 and its owner paid $50 for it years ago at a London market. The bottle’s estimated price was between $400 and $500 but it sold for $980 - a record for a bottle of this type.

The handblown wine bottle

ABCR Auctions ran the online auction, which attracted bidders from around the world.

Jablonec glass - in search of a virtuous circle

Jablonec, in the Czech Republic, has been renowned for its glasswork for centuries. However, on a visit to the town in May 2015, it appeared that competition between the town’s glass businesses, compounded by an influx of cheaper glass products from China, is preventing Jablonec’s glass businesses from growing their market.

A 'factory house' in Jablonec

Jablonec (‘Yab-lon-etz’) began to develop as a centre of glass art in the Middle Ages, when it was part of Bohemia. By the eighteenth century, Bohemia had displaced Venice as the centre of Europe’s glass industry. Today, Jablonec’s glass industry consists of two broad sectors: several small manufacturers and a few large wholesalers. Between them, they make and sell glass sculptures, chandeliers, tableware, beads and buttons.

‘Zero sum’ competition

Competition in Jablonec’s glass industry - both within and between its two sectors - resembles a ‘zero sum’ game. Each business can only increase its share of the market (e.g. for glass beads and buttons) at the expense of other businesses, until only one business – or a small group – remains in each market.

In that ‘zero sum’ game, Jablonec’s smaller glass businesses find it hard to compete with the larger ones. The larger businesses use modern equipment and processes, achieving economies of scale that enable them to fill orders swiftly. Many of the smaller businesses rely for their income on a pool of glass workers whom they pay at ‘piecework’ rates (i.e. per piece, rather than per hour) to produce glasswork using centuries old techniques and tools - often in centuries old family premises.

Hand-making glass buttons in Jablonec

The smaller businesses’ reliance on old techniques and tools can make it hard for them to compete with the larger ones. This, in turn, limits their ability to replace their old equipment with modern versions; and this makes it harder for them to fill orders swiftly … and so on, in a vicious circle of competition.

Growing the market

An investment of fresh capital could break that vicious circle, but one small glass business owner said that the local banks are reluctant to lend money to smaller businesses; and anyway, the availability of that pool of home workers reduces the urgency of the search for investment.

However, unless something is done soon, the smaller glass businesses will start to go under. Their current glass workers know that their skills and techniques are centuries old, and that there is a good chance that their skills and techniques will die with them. They are an ageing population, working in conditions that often sit uneasily alongside contemporary health and safety concerns; and local young people are reluctant to take on the jobs because of the poor pay and conditions. So unless the smaller local businesses can devise new business models that will attract younger people, the glass industry in Jablonec will contract into a small number of large companies. The ‘zero sum’ game will be played to its end.

 

From vicious to virtuous circle

One alternative business model would be to grow the market overall, increasing the income of each company within it - “The rising tide lifts all the boats” as US President John Kennedy described it.

Simply growing the market would reproduce the current disparity in wealth between the industry’s large and small companies. However, the disparity would be at a higher level of income, increasing smaller companies’ ability to not just survive but to innovate and diversify their operations. This would strengthen Jablonec’s glass industry as a whole, turning the current vicious circle of competition into a virtuous circle of economic and cultural development that could keep alive the area’s traditions of glass art, craft and industry.

Naked Sheep promotes Glass Art!

Haberdashers The Naked Sheep, in Ash Road, Leopold currently has an unusual window display - glass art.

The display features the work of glass artist Lynda Rogers, of Klassay Glass Art and is a win for both her and business-owner Amanda. Lynda gets to exhibit her work at a striking location and Amanda gets an unusual and eye-catching window display.

Festival-business links
Lynda is an exhibitor at the 2015 Festival of Glass and her collaboration with Amanda around the window display shows how local businesses can benefit from the Festival of Glass.

Other businesses might consider a similar arrangement, where they invite a local glass artist to exhibit their work in some (or even all!) of their shopfront. Alternatively, a business could offer special 'on the day' discounts to Festival visitors; or it could increase its local profile by sponsoring an aspect of the Festival (e.g. one of the Art Glass Awards).

Space at the 2015 Fxpo running out!

The 2014 Festival of Glass Expo

Two months before 2015’s Festival of Glass, there are just five sites left at the Expo!

The Festival Expo is at the heart of each year’s Festival and next year’s happens on Sunday February 15. The Expo is proving so popular with glass-workers that exhibition space is booked earlier each year.

 

The Festival committee is pleased with this enthusiasm, of course, but we don’t want to turn away exhibitors. So if you or anyone you know is thinking of booking space at the 2015 Expo, don't delay - book today!

 

An information sheet for potential exhibitors, plus an application form, are on the Festival web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au

Joining in by putting up!

The Festival of Glass committee is inviting local people to offer a spare bedroom to a 2015 Festival exhibitor. 

Each year, the Festival of Glass offers its thousands of visitors the chance to see displays and demonstrations of world class glass creations, with follow-up classes for those who want to try their hand at being glass artists.

The fifth annual Festival of Glass will start with a glass Expo on Sunday 15 February at Drysdale’s Christian College.  

Some Expo exhibitors - especially those from interstate - come a long way to exhibit at the Expo and/or to run glass-working classes. They welcome the chance of an overnight stay in the area to break their long journeys.

However, there is very little accommodation for visitors to the local area, so at the 2014 Festival of Glass, the Festival committee trialled ‘billeting’ exhibitors in local people’s homes. The response was consistently positive – from both sides - so the committee is repeating the exercise this year.

Join in the Festival of Glass

Billeting a Festival exhibitor is a good way for anyone thinking of opening a B & B to ‘test the waters’. It would also be attractive to anyone who’d like to show off their lovely garden! Perhaps the kids have moved out and you have a spare room.

Putting up an exhibitor is also a goof way to to become involved with the Festival of Glass. Festival convenor Doug Carson said, "If you can offer an exhibitor a night's stay, not only will you assist them, you will also boost the town’s economy – after all, overnight visitors will want to eat and drink and, perhaps, spend some time looking at our local attractions."

  

Festival Co-ordinator Doug Carson:
Tel.: 0418 371308 e-mail: ccd21@bigpond.net.au

Message in a bottle launches The Glass Trail

Around fifty people attended the launch of The Glass Trail at the ‘Totally Shattered’ glass studio near Queenscliff on Friday 4 July.

Roger Grant

Executive Director of Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine, Roger Grant, performed the official opening by reading a message in a bottle – a late nineteenth century ‘torpedo’ bottle that originally held water from the mineral springs at Clifton Springs. Despite the bottle’s age, its message read, “The Glass Trail is now open”!

The Glass Trail is an initiative of the Festival of Glass and Glass Trail members provided an exhibition of their work at the launch. Roger Grant said that overall, arts/cultural events attract more people than sports events and that the Glass Trail – like The Taste Trail - would give visitors to the area another reason to stay in the area, rather than just pass through.

Glass Trail members. Back row:Mark Edwards, Vicci Crowley-Clough, Pamela Manning, David Hobday; Front row: Katharine Oliver, Monica Provan, Lynda Rogers,Glenda MacNaughton

Launch of 'The Glass Trail'

On Friday 4 July, Roger Grant, Executive Director of Tourism Geelong and Bellarine, will launch The Glass Trail – a unique venture linking twelve glass artists, craftspeople and businesses in the Geelong area in a ‘trail’ for locals and visitors to follow.

People who follow The Glass Trail will see a wide variety of glass goods, including jewellery, sculpture and household items, most of them hand-made locally. They can learn something about how these items are made and may see demonstrations of glass workers’ various intricate techniques.

Followers of The Glass Trail will also be introduced to the annual Festival of Glass, including its competition for the Drysdale Glass Art Awards. The Glass Trail has been created by the Festival of Glass, to further its aim of promoting the Geelong area as a centre of glass activity. The Festival of Glass – now in its fifth year – is an initiative of the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA).

The Glass Trail is completely self-funded by its twelve participants; the Festival has co-ordinated the creation of The Glass Trail brochure and is promoting and publicising it.

To see the brochure online, go to the Festival of Glass web site (www.festivalofglass.net.au)
and click the link on the Home page.
 

THE LAUNCH:

DATE & TIME:    4 July 2014, 6.00 – 7.00pm

VENUE:      Totally Shattered Glass Studio,

1480 Queenscliff/Portarlington Road, Point Lonsdale 3225.

A mural project for Drysdale

The Festival of Glass committee has initiated a Mural Project to create two ceramic and glass public art exhibits in Drysdale.

Uncle David Tournier

 

The first will be a free-standing, ceramic and glass ‘Welcome to Drysdale’ sign located prominently in the town centre. Creating the 'Welcome' sign will give the mural team the knowledge and experience to create the other piece of public art – a major mural.

The second exhibit will be a major ceramic and glass mural with the theme, ‘Bridging Our Heritage: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’ located prominently on a wall in the town centre.

·      ‘Yesterday’ How our past continues to influence the presence. It would refer to the continuing presence of the Wathaurong people – the original inhabitants of the land; and to the continuing effects of Europeans’ arrival.

·      ‘Today’ How we describe our Community today. This would include local institutions, schools, service clubs, sporting clubs, community groups, local businesses and emergency services.

·      ‘Tomorrow’ The hopes and dreams of the community and especially of its young people - our future.

Building community through glass

The Mural Project is an initiative of the Festival of Glass. The Festival aims to enhance community well being and quality of life by involving individuals, groups and organisations in creative projects. This makes the Bellarine Peninsula an attractive destination for glass artists, craftspeople and companies, as well as for visitors curious to see their work. Festival-related projects such as the mural support existing local glass-related businesses and encourage new ones to establish themselves here, promoting innovation in the local economy.

The Mural Project is a partnership between the Festival of Glass, which is providing overall leadership, and Bellarine Secondary College, whose students are creating parts of the mural; it is supported by the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-op and the Bellarine Historical Society; and it is partly financed by local organisations.

So far, the ‘Welcome’ sign has been designed and Bellarine Secondary College students have been introduced to Wathaurong culture by Uncle David Tournier and to events around Europeans’ arrival in the area. This will assist them to design and create the ceramic tiles that are part of the ‘Welcome to Drysdale’ sign.

Glass working: watch, learn, then try for yourself.

The demonstrations of glass working techniques were a highlight for many visitors to the 2014 Festival of Glass.

Jacqui Campbell making glass beads

While visitors always comment on the diversity of the exhibits at the Festival's Glass Expo, they relish the chance to see how those exhibits are made. Consequently, when exhibitors demonstrate the techniques they use to make their products, they always attract a crowd.

The 2014 Festival featured demonstrations of an expanded range of glass-working techniques:

• Bead-weaving
• Glass slumping
• Glass casting
• Glass blowing
• Glass fusing
• Glass bead-making



Leadlighting with Lara Glass

• Glass leadlight.

From 'Oh my!' to DIY
The demonstrations can encourage people to try some glass work for themselves and for the first time, the 2014 Festival featured a range of workshops in which to learn glass working. These were held on Saturday 15 February and were booked-out in advance via the Festival web site. To respond to that demand, a further workshop (on bead weaving) will run on Saturday 22 February; again, access is via the Festival web site.

FoG in winter?
The Festival committee us currently considering running some glass-working workshops in mid-winter, aimed especially at people who are thinking of entering the 2015 Drysdale Glass Art Awards. The aim of the workshops would be to encourage newcomers to become proficient at one or more glass-working techniques, so that they have the confidence to create an entry for the 2015 Awards.

The workshops would broaden the range and quality of entrants to the Awards, locate them firmly in local communities and, in the process, maintain the Festival's profile throughout the year. The overall result would be a heightened profile for the Bellarine Peninsula as a centre of glass-working.

The Festival of Glass acronym is 'FoG' - and it's not a proper winter without FoG!
(Photos: Neil McGuinness)

A set of sunsets?

2014 Festival of Glass exhibitor Janet Jenkin was an award winner at the Bead Society of Victoria's annual exhibition in November.

The award was for the best set of 5 non-identical handmade beads around the theme, 'Sunset'. Janet took a novel twist in the theme and her set of five beads each features the silhouette of a particular tree at sunset. 'I made the lampwork bead bases then embellished the surfaces using a technique that I’ll teach in my Doddlebeads workshop at the Festival of Glass', said Janet.

The set is featured below; they are (L to R): Tropical Palm, Saguaro Cactus, Australian Grass Tree, African Umbrella Thorn Tree and Australian Bottle Tree.

Not just diverse ... kaleidoscopic!

'Oilscope'

The 2014 Festival of Glass is very pleased to announce that among the fifty-odd exhibitors will be the Tasmanian Kaleidoscope Company.

The company sells a range of hand-made kaleidoscopes, each one made of fine Tasmanian timber. Kaleidoscopes look similar to telescopes and - like telescopes - they rely on lenses for their operation. However, through a kaleidoscope you can see an ever-shifting pattern of shapes and colours.

Owner Ben Kurczok took over the former Tasmanian Kaleidoscope Factory in 2002 and changed its name to the Tasmanian Kaleidoscope Company. Ben's kaleidoscopes use various devices to create those patterns, including a chamber containing coloured agate and glass suspended in a clear, viscose fluid; a custom-made glass marble; and an optical lens.

'Cycloscope'

For more information, see the company's web site:
www.http://kaleidoscopecompany.com/

Architectural glass - hard to exhibit!

Contemporary architecture is a subject that arouses love, hate and every emotion in between.

Many contemporary buildings - love them or hate them - feature some extraordinary uses of glass. Here are just a few examples: the Health Department headquarters in Bilbao, Spain;  the 'Futurescope' theme park in Poitiers, France; and the National Grand Theatre in Beijing, China. (Look them up on Google 'Images'.)

The Festival of Glass would love to present such spectacular examples of contemporary architectural glass in our glass Expo, but you can't exhibit a building in a gallery! We can learn something from the annual Mansfield Glass Art Exposition, which this year  launched the Axess Glass Architectural Glass Project Award.  This award recognises excellence in the design and execution of a major architectural glass project installed in a building or outdoor setting in the past 5 years. The work entered must have been designed by an Australian-based glass artist or collaborative team and made predominantly of glass.

The judges considered up to 6 electronic images of each work, together with and a statement about the work fits the project brief in terms of, e.g., the building's context, aesthetics and function; together with the relevant standards for the site and conditions, energy efficiency and installation.

Some of the award winners are featured here.

 As a tentative first step into the world of architectural glass, the 2014 Festival of Glass will include a feature on glass and architecture in the 'Glass and Film' event that premieres at the Expo.

Featured artist: Michelle Shearer

'Immense' Michelle Shearer

A warm Festival of Glass welcome to Michelle Shearer, who will be exhibiting at the Festival's Glass Expo on Sunday 16 February 2014.

Michelle has skills in painting, drawing, sculpture, digital image making and animation; and she now applies these skills to the process of slumping, fusing and kiln-forming glass. She runs the 'Sand and Fire' studio in Terang, Victoria  and her piece 'Immense' (featured) was among the Top Five People's Choice at the Mansfield Art Glass exposition in October 2014.

Featured artist: Kim Manley

We look forward to welcoming Kim Manley to the 2014 Festival of Glass.

'Contained' Kim Manley

Kim's kiln-formed pieces combine linearity with a more 'organic' images from nature. Her 'Contained' (featured here) won the Axess Glass 'New Artist' Award at the Mansfield Art Glass exposition in October this year.

New international links for the Festival of Glass

Festival of Glass convenor Doug Carson attended New Zealand’s Wanganui Glass Festival in September.

David Traub

The Wanganui festival stretches over a week, with one or more events each day, including ‘open days’ at glass artists’ studios (including David Traub's, whose work is shown here). During the week, several shops in the main street feature window displays by festival participants, all of whom are members of the Wanganui Glass Group. The Wanganui Glass School is a major player in the festival. Its students help to run the festival, which offers them a major showcase for their work. Further, many past students of the Wanganui Glass School have stayed in the town after graduating, contributing to the town’s reputation as a centre of glass art in New Zealand.

 Artists and organisers at Wanganui were keen to maintain the link with the Drysdale festival. Wanganui organisers are considering making a festival video to act as a ‘virtual’ presence at the 2014 Festival of Glass and several Wanganui artists have said that they’d like to exhibit there.

Glass and economic development

The festival’s success hasn’t just happened by itself. Festival organisers and the local council have worked hard together to promote the festival as a major cultural event attended by dealers, collectors artists. The result is a major attraction for domestic and overseas tourists, even though glass souvenirs in the luggage can be a problem!

The festival’s success is good news for the local economy, attracting more artists to establish businesses in the area and attracting more money into the area from dealers, collectors and tourists. Wanganui businesses have responded by participating actively in the festival, giving over their shop fronts to displays, posters and banners.

Here are just a couple of examples of how the Wanganui festival is affecting the local economy:

• A local real estate agent ‘donated’ an empty shop in the CBD, which festival organisers made into a ‘pop-up’ (temporary) gallery of glass art and sculpture.
• Glass artists Jimi and Lisa Walsh’s annual ‘open studio’ in nearby Waverley has become a focus of community life, with local people signing up well in advance to be a ‘curator for a day’.

And just a reminder ….

Drysdale’s annual Festival of Glass is a DCSCA initiative. Its focus is a Glass Expo on the third Sunday in February, plus events before and afterwards. The 2013 Expo featured over 70 exhibitors; visitors to the 2014 Festival Expo will see all this plus a glass art competition and demonstrations and classes in various glass working techniques.

Doug Carson’s visit was made possible by a grant from the City of Greater Geelong’s Arts & Culture Department. Doug will talk about his visit at a city-wide grants meeting later this year.

Festival of Glass web sites:

Drysdale: www.festivalofglass.net.au

Wanganui: www.wanganuiglass.co.nz

'Animated' glass doors

Fridge manufacturer Skope is 'animating' the glass doors of its fridges.

Skope retail fridges now come with a clear LCD screen attached behind the door, turning the door into an advertising billboard that can show still or animated images. Skope is promoting the feature as a way for fridge-owners to add value to their purchase by using it to display advertising. The screen can be connected to the internet, enabling it to be updated remotely, including Twitter feeds to take advantage of (e.g.) hot days, special offers.

As a display space, however, such animated glass doors could have many uses other than advertising (think of the comparison with television!). They could be used to communicate to all sorts of audiences - whether the fridge is 'in-house' (e.g. employee information via the fridge in the workplace) or in a public space (e.g. promoting films forthcoming at a cinema).