Glass and Knitted Wire

After Glasgow International I found myself involved in a number of projects relating to degree and end of year shows.  My interest in these has led me to neglect blogging.  I am out to make amends now.

A student from Shetland College got in contact - upon a recommendation from Cheryl Jamieson - to arrange a few days in the studio to investigate the incorporation of wire knitted in Shetland into glass fired in Glasgow.  This might be the most far travelled set of pieces for an end of year show - this year at least.

We started the week off with a visit to The Dhabba, an Indian restaurant near to where she was staying.  Discussion with the owner revealed that his mother came from the same village in India as the student stayed with with her former husband. Lots and lots of gossip was traded in between mouthfuls of  good food.  It was one of the most enjoyable evenings in an Indian restaurant I have ever had.

The next day work started with lots of tests.

Translating work into a new medium is time consuming.  It turned out that she was relieved to be able to get a rest at last when five pm came around.

After three days of intensive work, I allowed a day off for shopping ( and a visit with her sister).

The piece I liked best was this one:

I think it is because it resembles a knitted sweater.  The folds in the glass are due to the kiln posts interfering with the glass as it slumped down from the supports to the underlying glass and knitted wire.  This was done to avoid the excessive bubbles some of the other pieces had even when supported at the corners with pieces of glass to let the air out during the bubble squeeze.

Other pieces of her work can be seen in the Shetland College end of year show.

Invisible Participation in GI

My invisible participation in the Glasgow International Festival of the Visual Arts has been to help Kate V Robertson prepare part of her exhibition at the David Dale Gallery can be revealed now the Festival is over.

Window by Kate V Robertson at David Dale Gallery, 2012

This appearance of the brick coming through the window is entirely Kate's work.  I helped her realise the inspiration by a few experiments before realising the work shown above in my large kiln.

St Margaret's King's Lynn

Among the places I visited during my recent holiday was St Margaret's Church in King's Lynn.  King's Lynn is a very old trading centre and a member of the Hanseatic League in late medieval times.

The church is just across the square from the town hall and is the most impressive building in the centre of the town except for the Customs House. It certainly is the tallest structure in modern King's Lynn.

There are a number of 19th century windows in the church, but I have chosen only three to show here.

Upon entry, the east window and reredos dominate the church.

East Window and Reredos

Reredos

The reredos is gilded carved wood depicting christ at the centre top separated from his crucifixion at the bottom centre by St Michael appearing to the virgin Mary.  He is surrounded by figures in the dress of the popes and bishops, who may be the early fathers of the church.  On the outer portions, angels are in support. This is massive - the figures are almost life size.  It was designed by G F Bodley and carved by G R Bridgman and installed in 1899.

East Window

The window above the reredos is huge too.  In keeping with the reredos below, it contains the figures of St Margaret and St Mary Magdalene on either side of Christ. The other figures are angles.  The window is 19th century, made by Ward and Hughes.

West Window

 The west window contains the saints relating to the other churches in King's Lynn surrounding Christ.  The other panels at the sides and in the bottom layer contains scenes from the history of King's Lynn such as the granting of the King's Lynn charter, the visit of Cardinal Wolsey, and King Henry VII granting a charter for the reconstruction of the church in 1524.  The window was designed by Donald Taunton of John Hardman and Co. and installed in 1927.

Side Entrance

 The church has only one modern window.  It is located at an entrance on the north side of the church and is the second large window on the West face of the church.  This was designed by Geoffrey Clark and installed in 1967.  It is an impressive window of almost 4 metres tall.  Unfortunately, you can see that there is already damage to the bottom right corner.

It is an impressive church which is very light due to pale green tinted leaded glass in the clerestory and various figures in clear fields for the north and south ground level windows.