Breath Taking opens in Durham
In the Same Breath by Kate Williams, Photo: Nick Moss
Crafts Council exhibition; Breath Taking: Revealing a new wave in British glass blowing opens at DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery, on 9 July and runs until 29 August 2011.
Its run at Durham Art Gallery, the only north east venue on the exhibition tour, will also feature a one-off musical performance using a hand blown glass trombone of an original score created by local artists.
Breath Taking presents blown glass work by 22 makers including a revolver, a model of a futuristic apartment block and to-scale wind instruments. The selected makers all illustrate a contemporary approach to this age-old process, breathing new life into a traditional practice.
The exhibition features five exemplary pieces from the Crafts Council Collection and 17 new commissioned pieces including;
• Layne Rowe’s ‘Roulette’ takes an obvious symbol of war and politics – the revolver – 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.
• 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.
In partnership with Brass: Durham International Festival 2011, Kate Williams has been working with musician Alan Tomlinson, North East based poet Amy Mackelden and members of Easington Writers Group to create a new performance for Kate’s glass trombone exploring themes of breathing and breath that will be premiered at the preview which forms part of the Late and Live music event on Friday 8 July. The performance will also be filmed and shown during the exhibition period.
“Breath Taking is a great opportunity to see some of the most exciting blown glass being made in the UK today. We are pleased to be taking the exhibition to Durham and that Kate Williams’ piece will played for the Late and Live music event.” Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council.
ENDS
For more information on the UK tour of Breath Taking visit www.breath-taking.org.uk
For more press images and information or to arrange an interview with one of the featured makers 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
• Durham Art Gallery is County Durham’s largest modern and contemporary art gallery and the DLI Museum remains one of the North of England’s finest military museums. It tells the story of one of the most famous County Regiments in the British Army.
• DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery
Aykley Heads
Durham
DH1 5TU
Tel: 0191 3842214
Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm (April – October)
Admission charges apply: see website for details
www.durham.gov.uk/dli
• Late and Live info
As part of the DLI Museum and Durham Art Galleries ongoing commitment to supporting local musicians and artists through its Late and Live events, the exhibition preview will end with a live set from Durham’s Jam Jah DJ’s Dave and Henry playing an eclectic brass inspired set incorporating a heady mix of ska, reggae, funk, gypsy, latin, afrobeat and beyond.
• 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
• Breath Taking will tour to the following venues across the country after DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery;
o Aberdeen Museum and Art Gallery, Schoolhill, Aberdeen, AB10 1FQ
3 September – 29 October 2011
o Oriel Wrecsam, Rhosddu Road, Wrexham, LL11 1AU
2 December – 29 January 2012
• 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.
