Glass Nexus Forum August 2018

22nd Annual Forum Glass Nexus 4 - 5 august 2018

Forum Programme

northlandscreative.co.uk

Welcome Welcome to our 22nd Annual Forum.

Whether you’re an individual artist or managing a studio, an arts freelancer or working in a funded arts organisation, this year’s forum is about your concerns and our community. The forum topic will research and investigate the interrelation of three themes: the exploration within the field of curation and glass making; the social emotional learning through the glass art experience and intangible culture; how the art of glass making can be appropriated, developed and sustained.

In the presence of renowned glass artist Michael Rogers, North Lands Creative board member has kindly accepted the invitation to be the Master of Ceremony for the Forum.

It’s time for hard truths, some imaginative thinking but most of all, about creating an intimate and supportive platform, where despite and because of our varied interests and experiences, we can come together.

Glass Forum is kindly sponsored by Corning Incorporated and Creative Scotland.

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Cover Image: Masahiro Sasaki, Deep Forest #1802, 2018

Forum Programme

#northlandscreative #glassnexus

From keynote addresses to panel discussions, here’s an overview of the 2018 Forum programme, featuring artists, curators and producers who have been invited to respond to three inter-connecting themes: »» ‘Exploration within the field of curation and glass making’ This theme explores the role of the curator, the public and the artist in the co-design, co-production and co-delivery of artistic and learning programmes. Exploring how exhibitions can produce new forms of understanding but also how they can facilitate its dissemination, decoding and interpretation. Speakers will examine the exhibition as a form of expression that can produce, acquire and share knowledge for both its maker - the curator researching a new territory - and its user – the visitor using it to learn about a subject and taking part in the sharing of knowledge. »» ‘Social emotional learning through the glass art experience’ Forum delegates will hear from a variety of speakers and presentations on projects that push the perceived boundaries of audience development through improving equalities, widening inclusion and access to glass making and cultivating new international audiences for glass art. »» ‘Intangible Culture’ Change is essential for the continued creative evolution and flourishing of studio glass. It opens up new avenues of potential in the way we work and the way we create. Speakers will introduce ideas to the forum on how the art of glass making can be appropriated, developed and sustained.

Booking Information: Your forum ticket covers access to all sessions, coffee breaks, lunch on both days. Delegates wishing dinner and evening entertainment must pre-book when purchasing their forum ticket (see below) Full Price Forum Ticket (includes above benefits): £250* Glass Nexus Dinner Package (includes above plus Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening meals): £315 *Please note there are discount rates available for Students and Contemporary Glass Society and Scottish Glass Society Members.

Saturday 4 august

#northlandscreative #glassnexus

8:45

Registration/Coffee

9:15

Welcome

9:30

Keynote

10:15

Lecture

11:00

Coffee/Networking

11:30

Lecture

12:15

Panel Discussion: Curatorial Practice & Glass

13:oo

Lunch

14:oo

Lecture

15:30

Forum+ Live Events on Campus

18:30

Networking Dinner

Stacey Toner, Vice-Chair, North Lands Creative Board Professor Michael Rogers, Glass Nexus MC Amy Schwartz, Director, The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, one of the foremost teaching schools for glass in the world.

Dr Inguna Audere, Academy Fine Art Latvia, Glass Art in the Baltic Context.

Zhang Lin, Shanghai Museum of Glass Speakers: Susie Silbert, Curator, Corning Museum of Glass, Milan Hlaveš, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague.

Dr Jane Cook, Chief Scientist, The Corning Museum of Glass.

You will be allocated your individual schedule for attendance at the following Forum+ Live sessions at registration. Refreshments are available. Forum+ sessions include: • Hot Shop Demonstration by Masahiro Sasaki • In Conversation event with Emma Baker and Susie Silbert • Alastair Pilkington Studio Tour • Site specific performance Dr Inguna Audere and Michael Rogers • Private view of Collect 2018 Artists; Emma Baker, Alan Horsley, Silvia Levenson and Anne Petters • Private View of Studio Exhibition, Amanda Simmons and Jeff Zimmer

Sunday 5 august

#northlandscreative #glassnexus

9:30

Coffee

10:00

Lecture

10:50

Panel Discussion: ‘Social Emotional Learning through the Glass Art Experience.’

Masahiro Sasaki, Artist

Speakers: (Panel Chair ) Alberto Lago, Scottish Pavillion Architectural Biennale YPC Project, Dr Karlyn Sutherland, Glass Collective Project, Aspiring Communities, Anna Varnase, Glass Point Latvia.

11:40

Coffee/Networking

12:10

Lecture

13:00

Lunch

14:00

Panel Discussion: ‘Intangible Culture’ - Creative Europe ISGNE Imagining Sustainable Glass Network Europe Project.

Meng Du, China Central Academy of Fine Art.

Speakers: (Panel Chair) Dr Caroline Madden, National College of Art and Design, Ireland, Nadania Idriss, Berlin Glas, Anna Varnase Glass Point, Karen Phillips, North Lands Creative and Anjali Srinivasan, Artist.

14:50

Artist Presentations:

16:00

Forum+ Live Events on Campus

18:30

Evening Reception, Bullseye Byre Project, Latheronwheel.

Glass art in the Scottish Context, North Lands Creative, Jeff Zimmer and Amanda Simmons.

You will be allocated your individual schedule for attendance at the following Forum+ Live sessions at registration. Refreshments are available. Forum+ sessions include: • Hot Shop Demonstration by Masahiro Sasaki • In Conversation event with Emma Baker and Susie Silbert • Alastair Pilkington Studio Tour • Site specific performance Dr Inguna Audere and Michael Rogers • Private view of Collect 2018 Artists; Emma Baker, Alan Horsley, Silvia Levenson and Anne Petters • Private View of Studio Exhibition, Amanda Simmons and Jeff Zimmer

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Inguna Audere has been active in glass art already for 25 years. She is currently a professor in the department of Glass Art at Art Academy of Latvia in Riga where she has been engaged from the year 2000. She has founded and led the Glass Art and Study Centre in Riga and also for twelve years headed the Department of Glass Art. In 2015 she obtained her scientific doctor’s degree studying the development of the Latvian contemporary glass art in the global context.

Emma Baker has been working in glass for the past 7 years. During her studies and since graduating in 2014 she has had the opportunity to work at various glass studios. Specialising in hot glass she has been involved with a multitude of projects with artists, designers and makers alike. Her work is held in private collections and has recently been acquired by the National Glass Centre. Represented by North Lands Creative, her latest work was exhibited during their Collect 2018 debut at the Saatchi Gallery.

Dr. Jane Cook is the Chief Scientist at The Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum’s principle resource on the science and technology of glass. She works across the Museum to incorporate scientific content in exhibitions and educational programs, advises the Museum’s artists-in-residence, and lectures widely at universities, colleges, and art schools on how scientific and engineering fundamentals can inform artists’ work. Jane earned her Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a materials engineer with 25 years of expertise in glass, metals, ceramics, and semiconductors. She worked at Corning Incorporated R&D for 16 years, is inventor on over 30 patent applications, and received Corning’s prestigious Stookey Award for outstanding exploratory research.

Meng Du was born and raised in Beijing, China. In 2008, she finished her BFA in Graphic Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. In 2013, Du received her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Glass Program.

She has been an Artist in Residence as well as the Adjunct Faculty at RIT in the following years until she returned to China in 2016.

Du has been teaching as the Adjunct Faculty at CAFA since the 2016 academic year. She also has participated in Artist in Residence program at Aichi University of Education in 2017 and her work has continued to exhibit at venues both nationally and internationally such as, Shanghai Museum of Glass, the International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa, S12 Gallery, and FOU Gallery.

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Milan Hlaveš is the Head of the Glass, Ceramics and Porcelain Collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. He graduated from the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Železný Brod and the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Opava and Brno. He worked at the National Technical Museum in Prague and the Museum of Glass and Jewelery in Jablonec nad Nisou. He is the author of countless articles in Atelier, Ceramics and Glass, Arts and Crafts.

Nadania Idriss is a California transplant, founder and managing director of Berlin Glass e.V. and CEO of Berlin Art Glas GmbH. Born in Berkeley California, she has a specialisation in medieval art and architecture in the Middle East.

She moved to Paris in 1997 and worked at UNESCO until she moved to Berlin in 2005. Nadania discovered and fell in love glass at Pilchuck Glass School in the early 1990´s. In 2009 she put together Berlin Glas e.V.´s 1st Board of Directors; and in 2011, the physical studio opened it´s doors. Berlin Glas e.V. runs a youth programme, teaches sculpture through the Art Academy Weissensee, collaborates with contemporary artists, and has bi-lateral exchanges with international universities. Berlin Art Glas GmbH is a for-profit company that offers classes and workshops, commission-work in glass and specialised workshops/demos for Universities and Public Schools. Nadania has been on the North Lands Creative Executive Board since 2017.

Alberto Lago is a Designer/Social Artist from Venice (Italy). His educational background range from architecture, engineering, carpentry and design. He has lived and worked in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Stuttgart, Milan and Venice. Alberto has exhibited his works worldwide and won numerous international awards. He has also published in various design/graphic magazines and scientific journals.

Mr Zhang Lin was born in 1965. He acquired his bachelor’s degree in silicate studies from East China University of Science and Technology, followed by a state-sponsored programme on glassmaking techniques in Japan. In 1996, he began further study in international finance at the East China Normal University.

In the beginning of the 21st Century, Shanghai Glass Co., where Mr Zhang served as President, remodelled the Shanghai Glassware Factory into an industrial park.

With an acute observation, he saw the great historical beauty and charm of the factory, and started a huge transformation of the furnace workshops into a brilliant art space. Mr Zhang took a trip to over 100 museums around the world.

Based on his learning and experience, Mr Zhang came up with the unique idea of building the ‘international interactive’ community museum, which serves as the core concept of the museum’s future development. In 2005, Mr Zhang entered into cooperation with Shanghai University and served as Member of the Thesis Community for Postgraduates from the School of Fine Arts under the University to offer support and care for young artists.

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Dr. Caroline Madden currently teaches at the National College of Art and Design, Ireland. She earned a PHD in Educational Leadership from Barry University, a MFA in 3D Sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in 3D Design from Stourbridge College of Technology and Art, England. From 1992 through 2007 in her role as Professor of Art, Head of Studio concentrations in Glass, Ceramics, and Sculpture at Jacksonville University (JU) in Florida, she taught beginning to advanced courses; developed curriculum for degree and non-degree programs; authored and directed grants for enrichment programs; and served on committees for Core Curriculum, and Undergraduate Research and Curriculum. In 1996, Madden served as the faculty liaison for the construction of a new 3D studio facility. She is a co-founder and served as the Director of the Glass Institute of the Southeast from 1997 through 2000. Additionally, she directed the Governor’s High School Summer Program for Gifted and High Achieving Students for three years.

Also, during her time at JU she served as a mentor for college students presenting at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research.

Karen Phillips is the Director at North Lands Creative. Born in Edinburgh, she has over twenty years experience of working in the arts in the UK and Ireland. Most recently she has been the Founding Executive Director to RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre (2008 – 2016), where she gained significant perspectives and knowledge of contemporary visual artistic practices and the needs of the visual arts sector.

As well as this, she has been in practice as an Artistic Director where her work has covered diverse areas from strategic planning and policy in visual arts, public art, dance, film, craft and local arts, to curation of exhibitions and commissioning of new work by artists. Her curatorial work has led to the management of longer-term programmes, commissioned by a range of organisations. These have sometimes involved her working in collaboration with other partners and have been underpinned by conceptual ideas relating to artistic practices or to the contexts within which they originated. These include projects, such as EUCIDA, European Connections in Digital Arts with Espace multimédia gantner, France, Rezeknes novada pasvaldiba Latvia, Public Art Plan for West Lothian Council and East Border Region of Ireland Creative Industries Programme. She has also held positions with An Tuireann Arts Centre, Glasgow Sculpture Studios and West Lothian Council (Public & Visual Arts). Karen has a BA (Hons) in Design from Glasgow School of Art and a MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College London. Currently she resides in Northern Ireland.

Michael Rogers is a professor at The Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences where he teaches a sculptural approach to working with glass. He lives and maintains his private studio in the countryside of Upstate New York.

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Masahiro Sasaki is a Japanese glass artist. He was born and lives in Nagoya. He studied glass art at Aichi University of Education and Toyama Institute of Glass Art. After working at Utatsuyama Crafts Workshop as studio coordinator for five years, he taught glass art at Osaka University of Arts and Nagoya University of Arts for five years. Currently, he is teaching at Aichi University of Education as associate professor and has headed the glass program there since 2008. Sasaki has won a number of honors, including the award of Grand Prix’ from the Exhibition of Contemporary Glass Koganezaki 2009, a merit award from the International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa 2010, and a merit award from the World Exhibition of Arts and Crafts Kanazawa ‘99. His work was featured in New Glass Review 30 and 31, and has been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally.

He has been the Glass Art Society Board of Directors since 2014.

Founding and current director of The Studio, the glassmaking school of The Corning Museum of Glass, Amy Schwartz has been the leader in making the Corning, NY-based museum, home to one of the top-rated glassmaking schools in the country, as well as an international innovator in educating the general public and serious glassmaking students about the art, science, and history of glass.

She has brought many of the world’s leading artists working in glass to teach, lecture, and create their own work at The Studio. She has forged ties with the Murano community, Italy’s glassmaking center, and leading contemporary glass artists, thereby enriching programs across the Museum. She also conceived, implemented, and raised funds for artist residency and scholarship programs at The Studio and inaugurated multiple video series that explain the properties of glass and demonstrate glassmaking techniques. These videos have been used at the Corning Museum as well as at museums around the world to demonstrate specific techniques. Another hallmark of her tenure at the Corning Museum has been the creation of the Make Your Own Glass workshop which provides brief experiences in glassworking for museum visitors. Over 63,000 visitors a year make their own glass during their museum visit.

Susie J. Silbert was appointed Curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass at The Corning Museum of Glass in 2016. Prior to joining the museum, she was an independent curator as well as a lecturer on the History of Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her recent exhibitions include #F*nked!, exploring the relationship between digital interfaces and handmade objects, Concept:Process, at Parsons The New School for Design, Material Location at UrbanGlass, and SPRAWL, an interdisciplinary exhibition interpreting urban development at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Her writing has appeared in exhibition catalogs for the Chrysler Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and UrbanGlass as well as American Art Collector, GLASS Quarterly, Metalsmith, the American Craft Council website and the forthcoming book CAST, on casting in all media, edited by Jen Townshend and Renee Zettle-Stirling. She holds an MA in Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture from the Bard Graduate Center.

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Amanda Simmons is an artist based in Dumfries and Galloway in South West Scotland. She studied Glass and Architecture at Central St Martins School of Art in London, after a career as a clinical perfusionist and set up her studio near Castle Douglas in 2006. Amanda makes kiln formed glass vessels and wall panels, playing with gravity and glass powders to form intricate 3D patterns and thin glass structures. Her pieces are finished using many cold working processes to shape and mark the glass including sandblasting, hand lapping, diamond point and wheel cameo engraving.

She has exhibited and taught worldwide including SOFA Chicago with Craft Scotland, Collect with Contemporary Applied Arts / Craft Scotland, Bullseye Projects in Portland, Pittsburgh Glass Centre, British Glass Biennale and The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.

Her work currently is inspired by research whilst on residency at Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness with scientists based at the Environmental Research Institute in Thurso. Investigations included the blanket bogs of The Flow Country and renewable energy turbines in the Pentland Firth.

Anjali Srinivasan, a 2016 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award recipient, is a US-based artist who has been working with molten glass since 2000. Anjali Srinivasan’s interest in glass stems from her experience working with traditional glass artisans in India since 1996, on research and design initiatives aimed at socio-economic empowerment. Her studio processes focus on the development of ways to discover access and restructure information held in a material. She is interested in how investigation of matter speaks to creative sustenance.

A practice-led researcher, Dr Karlyn Sutherland holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh; her work is heavily influenced by her Caithness childhood and explores her first hand experience of architectural atmospheres and the link between creativity and our sense of place and identity. She began working in glass in 2009 when her research into the topic of place attachment led her home to Lybster, Caithness, and to her enrolment on a master class at North Lands Creative Glass. She has since gone on to exhibit, lecture and teach both nationally and internationally. She was an Endeavour Research Fellow in the Glass Workshop of the Australian National University in Canberra in 2016, and was named by Corning Museum of Glass as the recipient of the 32nd Rakow Commission.

Formerly the Residency Development Officer at Lyth Arts Centre, Karlyn is currently a member of the Craft Scotland Advisory Group. She is represented by Bullseye Projects, Portland, Oregon.

Image: University of Sunderland

About our Speakers

#northlandscreative #glassnexus Born and raised in the North of Scotland, Stacey Toner joined the Board of North Lands Creative in 2016 with a particular interest in supporting community engagement and regional development. Having completed a BA in Art History from Aberdeen University and MA in Art Gallery Studies from Newcastle University, Stacey has worked in the arts and cultural sector since 2012. Specialising in participatory arts and education, Stacey has gained experience within the learning departments of the National Galleries of Scotland and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and has subsequently worked for The National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Borders Council, Fèis Rois and most recently, the University of the Highlands and Islands.

In 2017 Anna Varnase was nominated for the prestigious Stanislav Linebsky Award as the best young glass artist. She has already achieved success in international glass art exhibitions ( JUNIOR GLASS WAYS 2017 COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION, Sazava, The Czech Republic, “Interpretations”, Estonia, 2015; Poland, Wroclaw, 2015, “International biennial of glass Bulgaria 2017” Sofia, Bulgaria and in “7th international glass festival Luxembourg” Asselbourn, Luxembourg.

“Glass Point” is open concept studio for the creation and display of Baltic glass art, opened in 2017 and located in the Grizinkalns neighborhood of Riga city which historically was the glass art center.

Jeff Zimmer creates works with glass that explore ambiguity, morality and mortality in contemporary society and politics, and engage with the sensual experiences of mystery and light. He subverts notions of light, investigating its capacity for evocation, mystery and ambiguity in place of its traditional associations with clarity, divinity, revelation and simplified notions of truth.

In his painted works he combines the transparency of glass, traditional technique of glass painting, and contemporary lighting to create dynamic scenes that appear to shift, dissolve and transform depending on the position of the viewer.

His work with laser imagery on glass places him among the vanguard of artists exploring creative potentials of this intersection of technology and material.

Image: Craft Scotland

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North Lands Creative, Quatre Bras, Lybster, Caithness, Scotland, KW3 6BN T: +44(0)1593721229 E: info@northlandscreative.co.uk Scottish Charity Number: SCO23805