Breathtaking new blown glass
Joanna Manousis ‘Reaching an Ulterior Realm’
A glass hand-grenade, a model of a futuristic apartment-block and glass wind instruments all feature in a new Crafts Council touring exhibition; Breath Taking: Revealing a new wave in British glass blowing.
The exhibition launches at Bilston Craft Gallery, Wolverhampton, on 22 January 2011 and runs until 19 March 2011.
Breath Taking presents blown glass work by 22 UK makers, including 17 new commissions and five exemplary pieces from the Crafts Council Collection. The selected makers all illustrate a contemporary and lyrical approach to this age-old process through the presentation of exciting new works, many of which are conceptual and non-functional forms that breathe new life into a traditional practice.
The 17 new commissioned pieces include;
Joanna Manousis’ ‘Reaching an Ulterior Realm’ that presents us with what looks like three helium mounted targets fired at by arrows (with varying degrees of success). The targets are not as fluid and the arrows not as light as we imagine however, as it becomes apparent they are made of solidified blown glass.
Kate Williams’ ‘In the same breath’ and ‘Airbourne’, are two meticulous replicas of wind instruments. The pieces are flame-worked – a blown glass technique that uses a small table-top open flame to work the glass rather than a furnace. Flame-working allows for a high level of precision and accuracy, meaning that these two pieces can be played to create music.
Layne Rowe’s ‘Picking Daises 2’ takes an obvious symbol of war and politics – the hand-grenade – and turns it into a beautifully crafted fragile object. Its identity is further subverted by the addition of glass daisies making it an object of peace.
El Ultimo Grito’s ‘Apartments’ is an imaginary architectural form created from repurposed scientific glass products. On first viewing, the pieces seem to be lifted from the laboratory but on closer inspection their function has been re-appropriated; they are models of futuristic glass apartments.
Alongside the glass work is a newly commissioned film by Federico Urdaneta that explores the work and practice of SheldonCooney. At their studio in a converted chapel in Staffordshire, Elaine Sheldon and Dominic Cooney produce blown glass in the most sustainable way possible; harnessing energy using their two wind turbines, sourcing packaging locally, and living on-site.
The exhibition is designed by design collective Glass Hill and acclaimed graphic designer Sara De Bondt has created an inventive glass-inspired graphic scheme.
Ends
For more press images and information please contact Jill Read in the Crafts Council Press Office on Tel: +44 (0) 20 7806 2549, Email: media@craftscouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors
• The makers featured in Breath Taking are Dominic Cooney, Anna Dickinson, Committee, El Ultimo Grito, Stewart Hearn, Carrie Fertig, Shelley James, Joanna Manousis, James Maskrey, Carl Nordbruch, Jessica Lloyd-Jones, Stephen Proctor, Layne Rowe, Elaine Sheldon, Sam Sweet, Louis Thompson, Ben Walters, Richard Wheater, Christopher Williams, Kate Williams, Emma Woffenden and Rachael Woodman
• Bilston Craft Gallery is the largest dedicated craft venue in the West Midlands with exhibitions featuring the best in contemporary ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles, metalwork and woodwork.
Bilston Craft Gallery
Mount Pleasant
Bilston
West Midlands
WV14 7LU
Tel: 01902 552 507
Email: BilstonCraftGallery@wolverhampton.gov.uk
• The Crafts Council Collection was established in 1972 and covers the whole range of contemporary craft practice with 1,400 objects from both established figures and upcoming names. Objects in the Collection are available for loan. For more information on borrowing from the Collection, please visit the Crafts Council website or contact Birgit Dohrendorf, Registrar, Crafts Council, tel: 020 7806 2525, email: b_dohrendorf@craftscouncil.org.uk . Images of all objects can also be viewed in our online image library through Photostore on the website www.craftscouncil.org.uk
• The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft.
o We believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life.
o We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about craft.
o We believe that the strength of craft lies in its use of traditional and contemporary techniques, ideas and materials to make extraordinary new work.
o We believe that the future of craft lies in nurturing talent; children and young people must be able to learn about craft at school and have access to excellent teaching throughout their education.
• 12% of the UK population visited a craft exhibition in 2009/10, and 18% participated in craft activity in the same year (DCMS/ACE Taking Part data update August 2010). (Taking Part is an ongoing survey being carried out by Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England (ACE).
• More than 2.8 million visits were made to the Crafts Council website in 2009. To find out everything you need to know about where to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft visit www.craftscouncil.org.uk
• The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. As the national development agency for the arts, it supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2008 and 2011, Arts Council England will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
