(Glass) Art imitating life

From the time of the rock artists of Arnhem Land, the natural world has always inspired artists, including glass artists.

Mauro Vianello - Artist-in-Residence at the 2018 Festival of Glass - is a world respected glass artist and teacher because of his extraordinary skill in creating glass replicas of animals and plants, especially marine creatures.

Mauro Vianello Two jellyfish

Mauro’s work draws on that of Leopold Blaschka (27 May 1822 – 3 July 1895) and his son Rudolf Blaschka (17 June 1857 – 1 May 1939). Glass artists from Dresden, Germany, they were renowned for producing glass models of plants and sea creatures.

Generations of Blaschkas had made a range of glass items since the Sixteenth Century, including eyes, jewellery and scientific equipment. In his spare time, Leopold Blaschka made glass models of plants and when Prince Camille de Rohan of Prague saw them in 1860, he commissioned 100 glass orchids.

Leopold Blaschka Sea Anemone

When Dresden natural history museum director Professor Ludwig Reichenbach, saw the Blascha orchids, he realised that glass could be the key to showcasing marine invertebrates (creatures lacking a backbone). In 1863, Reichenbach commissioned Leopold Blascha to produce twelve model sea anemones. The resulting models were a great improvement on those used previously to present such creatures.

At the time, while durable specimens of vertebrates (animals with backbones) could be created by stuffing and mounting them, the only way to showcase invertebrates was to place a live specimen in a sealed jar of alcohol. Eventually, however, these specimens degenerated into little more than colourless blobs of jelly. Consequently, biologists used drawings, pressings, photographs or models in wax or papier maché to represent marine invertebrates, each with its own drawbacks.

Finding success

On Professor Reichenbach’s advice, Leopold closed the family business and established a mail-order business, selling glass marine invertebrates to museums, aquaria, universities and private collectors. The business was a great success.

Blaschka Tubularia indivisa

In1880, Leopold and Rudolf produced hundreds of glass models of sea creatures for the Boston Society of Natural History Museum (now the Museum of Science) and Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. In 1886, Professor George Lincoln Goodale asked Leopold and Rudolf to make a series of glass botanical models for the Harvard Botanical Museum that he was establishing; and in 1887, the Blaschkas signed an exclusive ten-year contract with Harvard to make around 4,400 glass models. When Leopold died in 1895, Rudolf worked alone until he retired in 1938.

The Blaschkas pioneered many techniques and formulas and experimented with glues, colours and glass. However, neither Leopold nor Rudolph employed an apprentice and Rudolf left no successor. Consequently, some of their techniques and formulas disappeared when they died, making it hard to repair and preserve these intricate antiquities. Even simple cleaning can have devastating effects on the glue and colour.

Featured Festival of Glass sponsor: Drysdale, Clifton Springs and Curlewis Association Inc.

Members of the Drysdale, Clifton Springs and Curlewis Association (DCSCA) live, work or study in the Drysdale, Clifton Springs and Curlewis areas and they aim to improve local people’s well-being and to improve the natural, social and built environments. DCSCA members meet regularly to discuss how the local community is changing; to work with other local groups and organisations to shape the area’s future; and to represent local people's ideas and opinions to outside organisations.

In 2011, DCSCA initiated the annual Festival of Glass to link the area with a major cultural/social event; and it established a Festival of Glass sub-committee to run the event. DCSCA's intention is for the Festival to offer a new and unique showcase to local glass artists, craftspeople and companies; encourage others to establish themselves in the area; and encourage local glass companies, artists and craftspeople to collaborate.

Contacts:

P.O. Box 581, Drysdale Vic 3222

E-mail: dryclifton@bigpond.com

Blog: http://drycliftdays.blogspot.com

Featured Festival of Glass sponsor: Glass Fusing

The Festival of Glass committee is very grateful for the support it receives from the Glass Fusing company. Glass artists Ashley Williamson and Bec Schaefer established Glass Fusing because, as they put it, “We decided to sell glass supplies and raw materials because we got tired of having to buy so many of our supplies from overseas, incurring significant freight costs, simply because the products were not available locally at reasonable prices”.

Glass Fusing sells a range of supplies for glass artists doing fusing (of course!), slumping and casting; as well as tools, kilns, findings, books and magazines. The company holds a range of System 96 glass, made by the Spectrum Glass Company and Uroboros Glass. Ashley and Bec have found that, in general, System 96 glass cuts well, fuses well, and tolerates multiple firings without devitrifying. Glass products in the System 96 collection are extremely stable and consistent, designed and produced to be compatibly both technically and artistically. “We find that System 96 glass gives us a great palette of colours”, they said, “as well as an ever-increasing range, whilst being quite affordable.”

Fusing Glass p/l, 5 Hammond Close, Oxley, ACT, 2903

Tel. 0421 444 291    Web: http://www.glassfusing.com.au/

E-mail: via web site

Thanks to the City of Greater Geelong and the Bendigo Bank, our Awards sponsors, our Treasure Hunt sponsors and other local ‘in kind’ supporters.

Latest Festival news

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Festival-of-Glass-189670377738114/

Web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au

Blog (you’re here!): http://festivalofglass.blogspot.com

Volunteering at the Festival

Our Friends of the Festival online newsletter gives the latest Festival news, with special emphasis on opportunities to volunteer to help. To become a Friend of the Festival, please send an e-mail to: festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com

Put “Festival Friends” in the subject bar and put your name and address in the body of the e-mail. Thanks - we look forward to welcoming you!

88 days to go!

It’s just three months (88 days if you’re digitally minded!) before the 2017 Festival of Glass and there’s a lot happening already.

1. Expo organisers eye a second floor!

The 2017 Festival of Glass Expo is proving to be so popular that the Festival Committee is considering expanding into the venue’s second floor.

Each year’s Festival of Glass Expo features dozens of exhibitors displaying glass art and craft products, together with demonstrations of glass working techniques, the annual Glass Art Awards, short films about glass, prizes and much more.

After the Expo, there are classes in various glass working techniques. So at the Expo, you can look at beautiful glass art and see how its made .... then afterwards you can learn how to make your own.

The Expo is held at Drysdale’s Christian College on the third Sunday in February – in 2017, that’s Sunday 19 February – between 10.00am and 4.00pm.

2. Featured Festival sponsor - Bendigo Bank (i). Investing in communities

The Bendigo Bank prides itself on being community-orientated and its investment in the Festival of Glass is a good example!

The Bendigo Bank offers retail banking products and services to more than 1.4 million retail customers through its 400 plus branches and agencies. It works with communities to contribute to their prosperity, because it believes that successful communities make successful businesses.

The Bank has supported the Festival from its beginning in 2011, and it is now one of our major sponsors. The Festival Committee is grateful for the Bank’s support and is always happy to acknowledge the Bank’s contribution to the Festival’s success. Its investment has given the Festival the stability to keep expanding its scope and broaden its audiences – without the Bank’s involvement, we’d have a very different Festival of Glass.

3. Featured Festival sponsor - City of Greater Geelong (i). Creating a vision

Officers from the City of Greater Geelong Council’s Arts & Culture department have helped the Festival of Glass Committee to raise the local community’s awareness of the area’s rich historical links with glass.

The Festival Committee has launched several initiatives linked with the Festival, including the Welcome to Drysdale mural in the town centre, Glass Reflections – an online archive of local glass history and The Glass Trail of glass artists’ open studios.

The Council is a major sponsor of the Festival of Glass. It provides leadership, governance and services to the Greater Geelong community and its Geelong City Plan presents a vision for the city and describes how it will become a reality. Like the neighbouring Portarlington Mussel Festival and Queenscliffe Music Festival, Drysdale’s Festival of Glass shows how a festival can galvanise a community into action; and the council’s continuing support for the Festival of Glass has ensured that the Bellarine’s past and present links with glass have a strong future.

Get the latest Festival news

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Festival-of-Glass-189670377738114/

On the web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au

On the blog (you’re here!): http://festivalofglass.blogspot.com

Volunteering at the Festival

Our “Friends of the Festival” online newsletter gives the latest Festival news specifically for our volunteers. To become a Friend of the Festival, please send an e-mail to festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com

Put “Festival Friends” in the subject bar and put your name and address in the body of the e-mail.

Searching Drysdale businesses with new curiosity

On Monday 1^st February, customers will search businesses in the Drysdale area with a new curiosity.

Ronnie (Ronnie's Cafe) and her 'Tree of Life' platter

The customers will be looking for small, hand-crafted glass ornaments - ‘Tiny Treasures’ – that are clues in a Treasure Hunt being run by the 2016 Festival of Glass.

21 local businesses are participating in the Treasure Hunt and each one has commissioned a piece of glass art – and a ‘Tiny Treasure’ - from local glass artists. 

From February 1^st, each participating business will display its piece of glass art, together with its ‘Tiny Treasure’ for treasure hunters to spot. A poster in its window will show that a business is part of the Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunters receive a stamp on their entry form for each ‘Tiny Treasure’ they spot.

The Treasure Hunt will culminate in a draw for dozens of pieces of glass art at the Festival Expo on 21 February at Christian College, Drysdale.

Jacquie Campbell's glass shell at Surf Junction

Festival of Glass convenor Doug Carson said, “Everyone benefits from the Treasure Hunt. It brings customers to local businesses, it promotes local glass artists and it shows local people the beautiful things that artists make with glass. We hope that the Treasure Hunt will build a strong and mutually-beneficial relationship between the Festival, local businesses and local glass artists.”

Each year, something more
The Treasure Hunt will be a novel addition to the Festival of Glass, now in its sixth year. Each year, the Festival committee adds a new feature to maintain interest in the Festival. For example:

• the 2015 Festival featured internationally renowned Sydney glass artist Mark Eliott, who held demonstrations of glass art at the Festival Expo and ran workshops in the following week. Mark will return to the 2016 Festival, along with fellow glass artist Peter Minson.
• the 2014 Festival included Glass on Film - a rolling programme of short films about glass. Glass on Film was also a feature of the 2015 Festival and will be part of the 2016 Festival.

2016 Festival offers "Glass Inspirations"

The 2016 Festival of Glass will feature internationally renowned glass artists Peter Minson and Mark Eliott in a series of activities under the title “Glass Inspirations”.

1. "Endangered in Glass" – a Masterclass (19 February 2016)

Minson and Eliott will each make glass sculptures of the locally endangered Hooded Plover and

Weedy Sea Dragon. Mark Eliott

Orange-bellied Parrot, while talking about their techniques and their involvement with glass. Large video screens will give ‘close-ups’ of their work. To complement their commentaries, Wathaurong elder Uncle David Tournier will give an Indigenous perspective on the birds and their habitat - the area known originally as Bella Wein.

The Masterclass is a collaboration between the Festival, Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-op and several local environmental groups; and the glass replicas will be auctioned to assist the birds’ survival. Subsequently, they will tour the region, raising awareness of the birds' plight and of the beauty of glass art.

2. "Inside and Outside the House of Lamp-Work" (22 – 25 February 2016)

Minson and Eliott will run two fee-paying workshops exploring interplays between structure and

Untitled. Peter Minson

improvisation in the creation of glass art. The workshops are for beginning and established local glass artists, who will be encouraged to exhibit at a Festival of Glass and/or to enter its Glass Art Awards; and a mentorship programme will assist them to do so.

3. "It’s Your Turn" – free workshops (20, 21, 26 February 2016)


These free workshops will offer local people who may be newcomers to glass art an insight into its creation. In each workshop, Minson and Eliott will demonstrate basic glass-working techniques, then invite participants to create simple pieces of glass art and to create a collective glass sculpture for the venue. One workshop will be for the general community and will be part of the 2016 Festival of Glass Expo on 21 February 2016. The other two workshops will be for the elderly and for young people and  will be held in circumstances familiar to each group.

 

Peter Minson

Mark Eliott

In “Glass Inspirations”, the Festival of Glass collaborates with Peter Minson and Mark Eliott to inspire local people to create glass art, to exhibit at a Festival of Glass and/or to enter its Glass Art Awards. The aim is to grow the Bellarine Peninsula’s reputation for glass-related activities by attracting creative and economic investment in the region's glass artists.

2016 Glass Art Awards: entries now open

Entries are now open to the 2016 Glass Art Awards; entry forms must be submitted by 5 February 2016.

The Glass Art Awards are part of the Festival of Glass, now in its sixth year. Entries will be judged and announced during the Festival's Expo on Sunday 21 February 2016.

There are four Categories:

·      Functional Glass Art

·      Sculptural Glass Art

·      Wearable Glass Art

·      Glass-related Photography.

Each Category has two Divisions:

·      Intermediate (8 - 18 years old)

·      Open (19 years of age and older).

In each Category, the Intermediate Division has a first prize of $100 and a second prize of $50; and the Open Division has a first prize of $200 and a second prize of $100.

There are also two special Awards:

Second Life Glass Art Award ($1,000)

This Award will go to the best piece of glass art that is made solely by recycling glass. This is the second year of this Award, which is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Drysdale. The Festival of Glass committee is very grateful to the Rotary Club for its generosity. The theme of this year's Award is "A Gift to the World", to coincide with International Rotary's theme for 2015 - 2016 - "Be a gift to the world".

Entries will be judged by the 2016 judging panel:- Mark  Edwards (Wauthorong Glass), Mercedes Drummond (Glass Art Awards convenor) and a representative of the Rotary Club of Drysdale.

Bella Wein Glass Art Award ($500)

This Award will go to the piece of glass art that best interprets the identity of the Bellarine Peninsula. The Award celebrates the continuity between the past and the present - "Bella Wein" is the name given to the Peninsula by the area's original owners, the Wathaurong people. 

This is a new award and is sponsored by the Clifton Springs and Curlewis Lions Club. The Festival of Glass committee is very grateful to the Lions for their generosity.

Entries will be judged by the 2016 judging panel:- Mark  Edwards (Wauthorong Glass), Mercedes Drummond (Glass Art Awards convenor) and a representative of The Clifton Springs and Curlewis Lion Club.

Information, entry forms and conditions of entry for the 2016 Glass Art awards are on the Festival of Glass web site : www.festivalofglass.net.au

FoG in Winter July/August 2015. What’s Winter without FoG?

In July/August 2015, the second annual FoG in Winter presents a series of glass-related events on the Bellarine Peninsula

“People who attend FoG in Winter events can learn how to make beautiful objects in glass”, said Festival of Glass Convenor Mercedes Drummond. “We hope they will then be inspired to enter the 2016 Drysdale Glass Art Awards which will be part of the 2016 Festival of Glass” she added.

FoG in Winter is a mid-year reminder that the Festival of Glass will happen in February. It keeps local people, community groups and businesses interested in the Festival and invites them to become involved.

Locations and prices of events are on the Festival of Glass web site:

www.festivalofglass.net.au

Making lampwork glass beads

·      Sat. July 25 – Sun. July 26 (2 days)

Point Lonsdale

Glass fusing for beginners

·      Sat. July 25 10.00am – 2.00pm Leopold

·      Sun. July 25 10.00am – 2.00pm Leopold

Glass beadweaving projects

·      Making beaded beads. Sat. July 25

10.00am – 1.00pm Drysdale

·      ‘Fandangle’ pendant. Sat. July 25

2.00 – 5.00pm Drysdale

·      Bead embroidery – finishing off.

Sat. Aug. 17 3.00 – 5.00pm. Drysdale

Jewellery mending – the basics

·      Monday July 27 3.00pm – 5.00pm. Drysdale

Glassworker’s Open Studio

·      Sat. Aug. 1 11.00am – 4.00-pm Drysdale

Photographing glass at home

·      Sat. August 1 11.00am - 4.00pm Drysdale

Wed. August 5 11.00am – 4.00pm Drysdale

More information

(Tutors, prices, projects, locations, etc.)

festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com

Growing the market for Jablonec glass

In Jablonec’s glass industry, competition for market share is favouring larger, more industrialised firms, which use modern equipment to achieve economies of scale. The smaller firms’ reliance on pre-industrial methods of production makes it hard for them to attract the capital investment they need to compete with the larger firms on their own terms.

Individual survival

In Jablonec’s glass industry, several of the small firms don’t operate in a factory as such. Instead,

Pressing strings of beads, Jablonec

each firm’s operations are dispersed across a number of sites. These may include:

·      part or all of a building, which the firm rents to run the business, store and distribute its products and, perhaps run a shop

·      small workshops in rented premises

·      private homes in which people make the firm’s products on a ‘piecework’ basis (i.e. they are paid for each piece of glasswork that they produce).

When asked, “What one thing would enable you to develop your business?”, the owner of one of Jablonec’s small glass firms answered that he would really welcome capital with which to buy premises in which to gather his operations together in one place. This would bring him several benefits: his premises would be a capital asset, rather than a drain on income through rent; his control over his whole operation would increase; and he could build a narrative through which to market his products – “tell the whole story”, as he put it.

Glass beads get pearlescent coating - Jablonec

A bank would seem an obvious first stop for a company seeking capital to develop. However, that same owner said that the local banks are cautious and conservative lenders. Instead of backing small companies wishing to develop, they restrict their loans to larger, wealthier firms. As ever, the wealthier you are, the easier it is to become wealthier still; and the less you need to borrow money, the keener the banks are to lend you some!

Collaborative development?

Jablonec’s smaller glass firms need alternative business strategies if they are to survive the local banks’ intransigence and match their larger competitors’ economies of scale. For example, the area’s glass firms could collaborate to grow the market overall for Jablonec glass. However, the firms’ present single-minded focus on competing with each other – while necessary for their survival - precludes anything more than minimal collaboration between them.

Hand-making glass beads - Jablonec

There is a vehicle for such collaboration - the local glass industry association, to which many of Jablonec’s glass firms belong. However, the association restricts itself to assisting individual firms to attend trade shows and exhibitions. This reproduces the firms’ individual competition, rather than advancing the interests of the local industry as a whole, or even expressing a view about what those interests are.

New sources of investment

If Jablonec’s smaller glass firms decide to collaborate – within or alongside the local industry association – they could get around the local banks’ reluctance to invest in them by approaching two alternative funding sources: the Czech Ministry of Regional Development and the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund.

The Czech Ministry of Regional Development (www.mmr.cz/en/Homepage)

The Ministry is an obvious potential source of funds to develop Jablonec’s glass industry. However, its website (in English) doesn’t describe its day-to-day activities; and while it mentions the spending of money, there’s no indication as to what this money is spent on or the criteria by which it is spent. Perhaps a direct personal approach would elicit more useful, practical information.

European Regional Development Fund  (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/erdf/)

The ERDF aims to help reinforce economic and social cohesion by redressing regional imbalances and co-financing the conversion of declining industrial regions. It supports a rage of activities, including research, development and innovation; telecommunication, energy and transport infrastructures; and health, education and social infrastructures. In 2014 – 2020, ERDF support will concentrate on three themes:

·      research and innovation, including support to public research and innovation bodies and investment in technology and applied research in enterprises

·      creating and safeguarding sustainable jobs, through co-investment in small and medium-sized enterprises

·      climate change mitigation.

Clearly, the first two of those themes are relevant directly to the development of the glass industry in Jablonec.