An 'in-duct-ion' ceremony??

A small working group from the Festival of Glass committee has acquired yet another skill – creating a ducted ventilation system!

The ventilation system takes shape

On Wednesday 26 September, the group assembled, tested and then disassembled an overhead ventilation system in a meeting room in Drysdale’s Cafe Zoo. In the latter half of February 2019, as part of the 2019 Festival of Glass, the ventilation system will turn Cafe Zoo’s meeting room into a customised venue for glass art workshops.

Mark (Cafe Zoo) wonders what to cook!

Workshop participants will learn how to sculpt, fuse and blow various forms of glass from our international Artists in Residence Davide Penso (Murano) and Cedric Ginart and Karina Guevin (Montreal).

The transformed room will also be the venue for a Festival first – jewellery designer Davide Penso's Glass Jewellery Lab – from wondering to wearing. 

At each event, a dozen participants will use gas/oxygen torches to create glass art; and in the process, they’ll create a lot of heat!

All the details about the workshops and the Jewellery Lab are on the Festival’s web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au

Introducing goblets

Glass artists Davide Penso (Murano), Karina Guevin and Cédric Ginart (both from Montreal) will be Artists in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass and their public demonstrations at the Festival are likely to include the wonderful spectacle of glass goblets being hand-blown.

Simple goblet

Goblets are part of a category of glassware known as “stemware” - drinking vessels on stems attached to a base or a foot. The stem is both decorative and functional – it allows the drinker to hold the vessel without affecting the temperature of the drink within. The word “goblet” derives from the old English word ‘gobelet’ meaning ‘cup’.

From pottery to glass

Glass drinking vessels began to replace clay or metal ones with the invention of transparent glass around 800BC. The attraction of glass was its transparency, which enabled a drinker to enjoy the appearance of a drink as well as its flavour, taste and smell.

Glassblowing was invented in the First Century AD in the Syria-Palestine region of the Roman Empire. Over the next three centuries, glassblowing spread swiftly throughout the Roman Empire and glass vessels spread beyond the exclusive circles of the wealthy.

Since then, goblets have became increasingly complex and decorative – as will be demonstrated in forthcoming posts on this blog!

This is the first 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 Ginarta and Karina Guevin (Montreal) - are extraordinary contemporary interpretations of this tradition.

A record range of workshops for 2019 Festival

The 2019 Festival of Glass will feature a record number of workshops already and there could be more - the Festival is still five months away!

Davide Penso

Venetian glass master and jewellery designer Davide Penso will run a 4-day masterclass – Glass Jewellery Lab: from wondering to wearing. This event, which will be the first of its kind at the Festival of Glass. As its name implies, it won’t be just a workshop, it will be a laboratory, where participants can test, try and perfect fresh, new jewellery ideas under Davide’s individualised expert assistance and guidance. All you need to bring are your jewellery ideas (and maybe a lab coat!).

In another Festival first, there will be a specialist workshop on sculpting and fusing borosilicate glass - More is Better - run by Karina Guevin and Cedric Ginart, two more of our international Artists in Residence.   

Cedric and Karina at work

There will also be workshops on glass blowing (beginning, intermediate and advanced) glass fusing, mosaics, enamelling, beadweaving and bead embroidery.

You can see all the details about each workshop in the Festival web site (www.festivalofglass.net.au), from where you can book places directly using Eventbrite.

Oh, by the way ....

You might think that there’s no need to book yet – after all, the workshops are months away! Think again - places at each workshop are limited and places are being booked already!

Meet our Canadian visitors

Cédric Ginart and Karina Guevin will join Davide Penso, a glass master and jewellery designer from Murano, Italy as Artists in Residence at the 2019 Festival of Glass.

Cédric Ginart

Karina and Cédric are renowned glass artists from Montreal, Canada. Cédric is a scientific glass blower and a glass artist. In both capacities, he has worked with scientists, artists, industrialists, designers and architects. At present, he works as a scientific glassblower at Montreal University, while also pursuing his career as an internationally renowned glass artist and teacher. 

Karina Guevin is a sculptor and a glass artist, renowned for her technical and aesthetic innovation in glass. She teaches flame working at many international schools and her glass sculptures and jewellery has been exhibited throughout Canada, as well as in the United States, France, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Karina Guevin

What a team!

Karina and Cédric often teach flamework together at international schools. Cédric has the quiet concentration you might expect of a scientific glassblower, while Karina has a riotous sense of humour and delights in small animals! Put the two together and the results are spectacular! Their modern-day versions of traditional Venetian-style goblets must be seen to be believed and, of course, you can do just that at the 2019 Festival of Glass.

A Guevin/Ginart goblet

You can see Karina and Cédric at work by joining their workshop, More is Better: sculpting, fusing and assembling borosilicate glass, from 13^th – 15^th February at Drysdale’s Cafe Zoo.

You can also sign up for their evening demonstration, Torch and Talk; blowing and sculpting a glass goblet on Monday 18^th February from 5.30pm – 7.39pm.

More information about each event is on the Festival web site (www.festivalofglass.net.au).

For more information about Karina and Cédric, visit their web sites:

* Cédric Ginart: https://www.cedricginart.com

* Karina Guevin: https://www.karinaguevin.com

This will be their first time teaching in Australia and the Festival is delighted to welcome them and host their visit.

Artists in Residence

The Festival started to feature an Artist in Residence four years ago in 2015, when Mark Eliott filled the bill. Since then, we’ve hosted Mark Eliott and Peter Minson in 2016, Davide Penso (Murano) in 2017 and Mauro Vianello (Venice) in 2018.