GLASS SOCETY OF IRELAND COMMITTEE REFORMATION – APPLICATIONS INVITED, IRL

The Glass Society of Ireland provides a network for makers, collectors, students, historians, writers, and enthusiasts in the field of contemporary glass practice. The Society acts as a communication tool, offering people news on glass and related fields. We also hold lectures with glass practitioners and organise larger events every number of years.

As part of the ongoing development of the volunteer-based organisation, the Glass Society of Ireland is currently enlisting members for the reformation of its committee. Each position will be held for a two year period.

The Glass Society of Ireland welcomes expressions of interest from applicants across the country as we venture to build on the Society’s existing objectives and to expand our community and audiences.

The positions available are:

Treasurer
(Financial accountability)

Education Officer
(Co-ordinating, facilitating, & developing Glass Society of Ireland events)

Student Representative
(Liaising between Committee and student bodies)

Membership Co-ordinator
(Building strong relationships and recruiting members)

Development Officer
(Grant application writing)

Media Communications Officer
(Sending fortnightly bulletin and updating blog & social media sites)

To apply, please email your CV and a brief statement explaining which position you are interesting in taking by 31st August 2012.

E: glasssocietyofireland@gmail.com
W: glasssocietyofireland.blogspot.com

DUBLIN CRAFT WRITERS GROUP

The next meeting of the Dublin Craft Writers Group is on Monday 30th July from 7-9pm in the Design Tower on Pearse Street. Please feel welcome to come (even if this is the only one that you can make all year). People are very welcome on an occasional and one-off basis as well as the regular gang.

Reading: We will look at the ways that one writer is written about and for this session will focus on Scottish potter Jennifer Lee, mainly because she has several essays accessible on her website http://www.jenniferlee.co.uk/essays/index.html. Choose two of these, print out, and bring it to the group. Interesting to see if we all choose the same ones... The selection is part of the reading process!

Writing: Looking at book reviews this month - so please bring a 300 word piece on a craft-related book that you feel strongly about (positive or negative). Alternatively, bring a piece of writing that you are already working on if you want feedback. Short extracts (300-500 words) are ideal.

E: eleanorflegg@gmail.com

COMMISSIONING ARTISTS FOR PUBLIC SPACES SEMINAR, NI

This seminar with consultant and curator Frances Lord is intended for those who want to explore the benefits and practicalities of involving artists in the creative development of new buildings and the public realm. It takes place at PLACE, Belfast, on the 16th of August from 10.30am-1.00pm. Admission is free but booking is required.

This seminar, directed towards local authority officers, architects, interior designers and landscape architects, will include case studies and discuss innovative ways of working with artists, selection methods, matching aspirations to budgets and best practice in terms of embedding artists within communities.

Frances Lord is a consultant and curator with a background in crafts who specialises in developing and managing public art and commissioning projects. Clients include local authorities, healthcare trusts, environmental and regeneration agencies, museums and galleries. Frances is an Artistic Assessor (craft, design and pubilc art) for Arts Council England.

T: 028 9032 3059
E: info@craftni.org
W: http://craftni.org/events/commissioning-artists-for-public-spaces/

ROISIN DE BUITLEAR AND EMMA BOURKE, 21ST CENTURY ICONS, GALWAY CITY MUSEUM
Some of Ireland's most exciting contemporary jewellers re-interpret the iconic forms of Celtic neckpieces, torcs and lunulas for the 21st Century. The function of jewellery has always been to convey status. This was particularly true of the torc, whose ostentatious size and weight could communicate the force and power of the wearer. But in contemporary usage, the torc has become an object of kitsch, often geared towards the tourist. But if we were to design neckpieces now that conveyed something about us - as Irish - to the world, what would they say? And what would they look like? Would they be gold? Recycled? Injection moulded? Would they be images of power and beauty? Shackles? Or blue collars?

21st Century Icons offers a unique opportunity for 21 of Ireland’s most innovative and creative makers to suggest some answers. The makers responses have included inspiration from a vast array of influences including the National Museum’s Bronze Age gold collection (Inga Reed); sheep’s wool from Co. Waterford (Eily O’Connell); the spiritual warrior women of Irish legend (Melissa Curry); Celtic lunulas (Christina Brosnan); the Tudor style ruff (Rachel McKnight); the 21st century neckpiece, the ipod headphones (Sam Hamilton); social networking (Laura McNamara) and tangles of Irish branches and tree roots (Emma Bourke).

The exhibition, which is curated by Ann Mulrooney, will continue until 2nd August 2012 at Galway City Museum.

W: http://www.ccoi.ie/gallery/exhibition.php?listing_ID=114

LARGER SCALE WORKING: POTENTIAL AND PITFALLS SEMINAR, NI

This seminar with consultant and curator Frances Lord is intended for makers who want to find out more about the opportunities and practical considerations involved in working on public art and large scale craft commissions. It takes place at R-Space, Lisburn on the 15th of August from 2pm-4pm. Admission is free but booking is required.

The seminar will include case studies, discuss the role of the artist, skills required, selection methods, making proposals, budgets and fees, artists' contracts, matching aspirations to budgets and trouble shooting.

Frances Lord is a consultant and curator with a background in crafts who specialises in developing and managing public art and commissioning projects. Clients include local authorities, healthcare trusts, environmental and regeneration agencies, museums and galleries. Frances is an Artistic Assessor (craft, design and public art) for Arts Council England.

T: 028 9032 3059
E: info@craftni.org
W: http://craftni.org/events/larger-scale-working-potential-and-pitfalls/

BLOWN AND THROWN EXHIBITION BY CATHERINE KEENAN AND ADAM FREW

Potter Adam Frew and glassblower Catherine Keenan both express a fascination with colour in their work. Adam makes colour intrinsic to a piece by staining clay and has developed a ‘double walled’ throwing technique to have different layers of colour breaking through in his surface drawings. Catherine uses a variety of glass blowing techniques of colour and pattern application in order to ‘uplift’ the viewer.

Blown and Thrown exhibition takes place at The Loft Gallery, Portaferry Tourist Information and Visitor Centre until 28th July 2012.

T: 028 9182 6846
W: http://ardscreates.com/events/view/07/07/12/blown-thrown-an-exhibition-by-catherine-keenan-and-adam-frew

KAREN DONNELLAN, EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR APPLIED ARTS

The European Prize for Applied Arts 2012 World Crafts Council Mixed Media exhibition, featuring Karen Donnellan in Young Talents, takes place at the Grand Halle Des Anciens Abattoirs De Mons, Belgium, from 14th July to 9th September 2012. Objects and furniture design, textile design, contemporary ceramics, jewellery and silversmithing, glass, and metalwork from both craft masters and emerging artists are included. Established designers and young talents interact thanks to an exhibition design from entrusted to Evelyne Gilmont, a designer from Brussels teaching at the School of Plastic and Visual Arts of Mons.

T: 00 32 65 846 467
E: wccbf@wcc-bf.org
W: www.wcc-bf.org
W: www.karendonnellan.com

GLASMUSEUM EBELTOFT OPEN CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL GROUP EXHIBITION

Glasmuseet Ebeltoft is proud to announce an open call for an international group exhibition entitled Bodytalk. This exhibition will take place between 5th April and 2nd November 2014. Artists at any career stage are welcome to submit. Objects can incorporate various materials but must contain an element of glass. The deadline for entries is 1st December 2012.

W: http://www.glasmuseet.dk/en2010/exhibitions/forthcoming/bodytalk.html
W: www.glasmuseet.dk
E: pia@glasmuseet.dk

2012 JERRY RAPHAEL METROPOLITAN CONTEMPORARY GLASS GROUP FELLOWSHIP, NY

The Jerry Raphael MCGG Fellowship is funded through the generosity of the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group and hosted by UrbanGlass. The Fellowship award varies year to year based on MCGG member contributions; the minimum award is $2,000. The funds must be used to develop new art work and may be applied to studio fees for glassblowing, casting, kiln working, neon, lampworking, stained glass, coldworking and sandblasting. Acid etching, technical assistance and materials are not eligible expenses. Glass experience is a requirement.

In 2012, while to the studio at UrbanGlass is under renovation, MCGG fellowship recipient artists are permitted to complete their fellowship in a glassworking studio of their choice. Artists are required to submit receipts to document all expenditures related to the fellowship work. The fellowship must be completed by April 2013.

The Jerry Raphael MCGG Fellow must give a slide presentation, a demonstration or a gallery talk for the members of the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group. In addition, the Fellow is required to submit photo documentation of work accomplished at the end of the Fellowship period, and to credit both the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group and UrbanGlass when the work is exhibited. The Fellow must stay in contact with UrbanGlass and the MCGG for three years following the Fellowship by completing an annual questionnaire.

Applications must be postmarked or hand delivered to UrbanGlass by 5:00 PM, Friday, August 31, 2012. UrbanGlass will not accept applications via email.

W: http://urbanglass.org/opportunities/MCGGfellowship

CONTEMPORARY GLASS SOCIETY INVITES SUBMISSIONS TO EXHIBIT, UK

Two important new exhibitions of world-class glass art are about to mark a renewed interest in a medium that beautifully blurs the boundaries between fine art, craft and design.

Hot Glass: new work from the furnace will be dedicated to the best in contemporary blown, hot-worked and sand-cast glass and takes place at London’s Contemporary Applied Arts (CAA) gallery next spring. Hot Glass, a collaboration between CAA and the Contemporary Glass Society, will present a dynamic mix of new work from some of the world’s most talented artists.

New Glass: Ancient Skill, Contemporary Artform will focus on the skill and creativity of today’s glassmakers in an exhibition at the stunning Blackwell Arts and Crafts house in Bowness-on-Windermere. New Glass, jointly organised with the Lakeland Arts Trust (LAT), will run from January to April next year. It will showcase the best of glassmakers’ skills and artistic vision in synergy with the house and its history. The exhibition will also reveal something of the hidden processes that underpin the glassmaker’s art. Drawings, models and photographic documentation of processes will be presented alongside the work selected for the show.

Both exhibitions are being organised by the Contemporary Glass Society as part of Glass Skills – the second stage of a two-year project to put contemporary glass on the map. The programme began this summer with more than 70 glass events inspired by the Olympic games. Glass Skills follows on with a year-long celebration of the imagination and talent of contemporary glassmakers and their role in keeping ancient skills alive. Artists are now being invited to submit work and proposals.

W: www.cgs.org.uk