Bigger Expo attracts bigger crowds

Around 4,500 people attended the 2019 Festival of Glass Expo at Christian College in Collins Street, Drysdale on Sunday 17 February.

Fifty artists and businesses showcased a wide range of glass art and Expo visitors could try their hand at creating jewellery, mosaics and leadlighting, in between watching the presentation of the Glass Art Awards and the draw for the Festival’s Treasure Hunt prizes of specially commissioned glass art.

Continuous demonstrations by the Festival’s three Artists in Residence - Karina Guevin and Cedric Ginart from Montreal and Davide Penso from Murano - drew big audiences. Some young spectators were invited onstage to receive their first lesson in glass blowing, to everyone's delight!

In the week before the Expo, Karina Guevin and Cedric Ginart ran their three-day workshop on using borosilicate glass "More is Better" (a Festival first) and over the ten days following the Expo, Davide Penso will run classes for beginning and experienced glass artists.

Rounding off the 2019 Festival in march will be a series of workshops by Bellarine glass artists. Topics will  include fused window hangings (David Hobday), bead weaving (Janet Jenkin) and glass mosaics (Diane Schofield), as well as glass enamelling and even glass garden art! Full details are on the Festival web site.

International artists blow glass, draw crowds

Internationally renowned glass artists Davide Penso, Karina Guevin and Cèdric Ginart captivated a 90-strong audience at “Twilight Flames”, an evening of spectacular glass blowing and sculpting on Saturday 16 February at The Range, Curlewis.

Davide Penso holds his glass seaweed

As the audience watched the artists melt, pull, shape and cut molten glass into fantastic creations, they enjoyed finger food and drinks from The Range, while door prizes of wine donated by Leura Park Estate added to the evening’s excitement.

Davide Penso is from Murano, Italy and was Artist in residence at the 2017 Festival; Karina Guevin and Cedric Ginart, from Montreal, Canada are visiting Australia for the first time.

Karina Guevin & Cedric Ginart

“Twilight Flames” is a highlight of the Drysdale-based Festival of Glass, which is held each year at venues across the North Bellarine. “At ‘Twilight Flames’, people can meet world class glass artists and watch them create unique glass art”, said Festival convenor Doug Carson. “We hope that it inspires our local artists to stretch their imaginations, just as they stretch their glass.”

Montreal comes to Drysdale

Glass artists Karina Guevin and Cèdric Ginart from Montreal are Artists in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass and their presence has added a distinct flavour to the events.

Karina and Cèdric are world renowned for their remarkable creativity, skill and - yes - humour in blowing and sculpting glass, especially their extraordinary hand-made glass goblets. This is their first visit to Australia and before they started work, they explored some of Victoria's surf beaches.

Karina creates a rabbit

Between Wednesday 13 and Friday 15 February, their “More is better” workshop at Drysdale’s Café Zoo introduced people to the techniques and skills required to work with borosilicate glass and their demonstrations showed just what is possible with imagination and ambition!

Cèdric creates a goblet

On Saturday 16 February, Karina and Cèdric joined Murano glass master Davide Penso - the Festival's other Artists in Residence - in “Twilight Flames”, a spectacular evening of glass blowing and sculpting that attracted ninety people to The Range, Curlewis.

The two artists finished their stay on Monday 18 January at 5.30 with “Torch and Talk” – an evening of demonstrations and conversations at Drysdale’s Café Zoo.

A Guevin-Ginart goblet

Bone china meets blown glass at a High Tea

Forty five discerning guests enjoyed the delights of a High Tea at Café Zoo in Drysdale on Monday 7 January, while watching local glass artist Glenda MacNaughton blowing and sculpting glass.

Happy faces at one of the High Tea tables

The occasion was the launch of the 2019 Festival of Glass Treasure Hunt, which has over a hundred pieces of locally-made glass art as prizes and involves thirty three businesses in Curlewis, Drysdale, Clifton Springs and Portarlington.

Treasure Hunt organiser Diane Schofield said, “Everywhere I looked, people were tucking-in to the yummy food, watching Glenda blowing glass or talking about what she was doing. The ten door prizes of glass bookmarks and decorations were especially popular!”

This is the Festival’s third annual Treasure Hunt and the launch was booked out two weeks in advance. Café Zoo owner Marc Rodway said, “We were very pleased that the High Tea was so popular. It was a great way to start this year’s Festival of Glass Treasure Hunt.”

The Treasure Hunt is the first event on the 2019 Festival of Glass calendar, which also includes an Expo with 45 exhibitors, the annual Glass Art Awards and demonstrations and classes by renowned glass artists Davide Penso (from Murano, Italy) and Karina Guevin and Cédric Ginart (both from Montreal, Canada).

Treasure Hunt on High Tea menu

A High Tea at Café Zoo in Drysdale on Monday 7 January will launch the 2019 Festival of Glass Treasure Hunt.

"Owl" Marina Villani (Birds of the Bellarine)

 

High Tea guests can watch local glass artist Glenda MacNaughton blowing and sculpting glass and browse the “Birds of the Bellarine” glass art exhibition that runs until March.

The High Tea was booked out two weeks in advance and, not surprisingly, owner Marc Rodway is delighted. “It will be a great start to this year’s Festival of Glass and to its Treasure Hunt”, he said.

Thirty three businesses in Curlewis, Drysdale, Clifton Springs and Portarlington are involved in the Treasure Hunt, which has over a hundred prizes of locally-made glass art.

Treasure Hunt organiser Diane Schofield said, “New businesses join the Treasure Hunt each year, generally because they’ve heard good reports from other businesses who’ve been involved”.

2019 Festival biggest yet

The Treasure Hunt is the first event on the 2019 Festival of Glass calendar, which also includes an Expo with 45 exhibitors, the annual Glass Art Awards and demonstrations and classes by renowned glass artists Davide Penso (from Murano, Italy) and Karina Guevin and Cédric Ginart (both from Montreal, Canada).

“The Festival’s visiting artists have international reputations for excellence”, said Festival coordinator Doug Carson. “Their classes enable glass artists in Australia to develop their abilities without travelling overseas and their spectacular public demonstrations introduce audiences to the beauty and skill of glass art.”

Competing tastes in glass goblets - transparent or opaque?

When Murano (Venice) glass master Angelo Barovier  invented cristallo in the mid-1500s, it represented the 'holy grail' of goblet makers. 

Cristallo was exceptionally clear and  transparent glass, free of the impurities that had clouded its predecessors. What better material for drinking vessels (even the holy grail!)? Drinkers could now appreciate their tipple's appearance, as well as its taste and smell.

Murano Dragon Stem goblet, 1600s

Throughout the Middle Ages, glass goblets from Murano dominated the European market for glass drinking vessels - not least because of Cristallo. Murano's competing glassworks created goblets that were increasingly complex in design, decoration and creation; but they also increased in price, restricting their ownership to the wealthy.

 

Is it glass, or ...?

Despite the popularity of cristallo, it became popular or fashionable to create vessels from materials other than glass, especially precious and semi-precious stones. Faced with this threat to their hold on the European market, Murano’s glass makers created new types of glass that imitated chalcedony, opal, amethyst, emerald, sapphire and other precious and semi-precious stones.

Turquoise was especial popular. It was highly prized in the Islamic world

'Turquoise' goblet

and it was imported into Europe via Venice from eastern Iran. The bowl and foot of the late-15^th century Murano glass goblet in the illustration are made of imitation turquoise, while the darker blue stem imitates lapis lazuli. (The goblet is presently held in the British Museum.)

So while Murano’s glass makers celebrated the invention of cristallo and exploited its transparency in new versions of their traditional goblets, they also devoted time and skill to creating forms of glass that  ... well ... didn’t look like glass.

And now?

Of course, most glass drinking vessels are made today industrially. However, hand-made goblets in the Venetian style (façon de Venise) retain their allure. Many present-day glass artists take pride both in replicating the original designs and in creating new forms that showcase their skill and creativity. They include the three International Artists in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass - Murano glass master Davide Penso and glass artists Karina Guevin and Cédric Ginart from Montreal.

As visitors to the Festival will see, Davide, Karina and Cédric each creates hand-made goblets in the Venetian style, but each interprets "Venetian style" in their own very creative way.

This is the second in a series of blog posts about the centuries-old tradition of making glass goblets. Among the many and varied creations of our International Artist in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass - Davide Penso (Murano) and Credric Ginart and Karina Guevin (Montreal) - are extraordinary contemporary interpretations of this tradition.