Monday, July 14, 2014

Bringing FoG to winter


Glass artists on the Bellarine Peninsula showed off their studios and their skills on the weekend of July 12 – 13.
Nudibranch on fire!

Queenscliff's Seaview Gallery in Queenscliff was host to Nudibranch’s Laurie Young and Christian Arnold, who demonstrated glass torchwork; Glenda MacNaughton ran two classes on glass bead-weaving in Drysdale; while Pamela Manning, of 'Glass Fusion' opened her studio in Queenscliff to the public.

This was the first of three weekends of Open Studios and classes in glass-working techniques that the Festival of Glass committee has organised under the umbrella title, ‘Festival of Glass in winter’ or ‘FoG in winter’.

A moment at the Dax Bead Art class
Doug Carson, Festival of Glass convenor, said, “We’d like ‘FoG in winter’ to encourage people to enter next year’s Drysdale Glass-Art Awards and to introduce them to the skills they'll need to so do. We also want to maintain local interest and involvement in the Festival throughout the year, rather than just in February, when the Festival happens.”

More events to come
Over the weekend of July 19 – 20, Lynda Rogers will run classes in glass mosaics and glass fusing in Leopold, which she will repeat the following weekend - July 26 – 27. That weekend will also see Open Studios by glass artists Glenda MacNaughton in Drysdale, Ros Leishman in Point Lonsdale and Katharine Oliver in East Geelong. The final event of 'FoG in winter’ is a class in glass fusing run by David Hobday in Point Lonsdale.

All the glass artists involved in ‘FoG in winter’ are members of The Glass Trail, which they launched on July 4 to showcase their work and to promote the Geelong area as a centre of glass-related activities. (see 'Message in a bottle launches The Glass Trail' 7July 2014 on this blog.)

Dates, times and addresses of all the events in ‘FoG in winter’ are on the Festival of Glass web site (click on ‘FoG in winter’), which also carries full details of The Glass Trail (click on ‘The Glass Trail’): www.festivalofglass.net.au

Monday, July 7, 2014

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