Exhibitions
This page showcases some of the panels I have made for exhibition purposes. Exhibitions tend to set a theme, which allows the artists to create a design inspired by that theme, e.g. how many things come to your mind if I said the word ‘Celebration’ or ‘Heritage’.
Exhibitions set a challenge for me too explore the theme, to research topics relates to it, and to generate designs that inspire the connections I make with the theme. They also give me the opportunity to explore new techniques to incorporate into the design, and this includes types of glass, styles of painting, the use of technology and methods of displaying the finished piece.
Exhibition panels give potential clients the opportunity to see the versatility in my approach to design, the execution of my making and how contemporary the overall piece can be. This can inspire a client.
I hope the images on this page inspire you to contact me and start the commissioning process.
The British Glass Biennale
The British Glass Biennale is the pinancle of the UK glass exhibition calender, and its selection process demands the best of the best. I was delighted that my Bee and the Golden Weave was selected this year.
The Bee and the Golden Weave depicts the majesty of these wonderful little workers. It was inspired by my concerns relating to the dwindling numbers of bees, and their plight from the use of neonicotinoids in farming.
The panel is made in layers to add depth to the image of the bee, creating height and shadows. The bee is painted using traditional glass paints and stains. Its wings are relief etched with silver leaf gilding. The honey cells are also relief etched with 22-carat gold gilding. The border is traditional glass painted with 23.5-carat gold and silver gilding.
Balance and Harmony
The Scottish Glass Society held its 2024 annual exhibition in partnership with the Contemporary Glass Society, using the theme ‘Balance and Harmony’. I submitted my newly created illuminated guitar panel, David Bowie: He Played Guitar.
This panel tells my journey with David Bowie, from my first experience of Space Oddity, the purchase of my first vinyl LP ‘Scary Monsters’, my Ziggy Stardust high school soundtrack, my first and last concert tickets, and a day a year photo mosaic of an older Bowie superimposed with an enameled Aladdin Sane flash
I used a myriad of methods in creating the guitar panel. It was a 2 year design development, followed by 6 months of making. The portrait of Bowie uses a pool of 365 images, photo mosaiced and then screen printed using traditional black glass paint.
The Aladdin Sane flash was then hand-painted using traditional glass enamels. Ziggy’s telephone box is 3 dimensional and consists of 4 sheets of glass. The first is red flashed glass, with the windows acid etched to clear. Beneath this is a layer with my concert tickets, which were black screen printed, then hand-painted with enamels. Ziggy had been re-imagined to make his figure whole behind the bars of the telephone box door. He was black screen printed and then hand-coloured using traditional enamels. The background of the telephone box, and the upper section depict the pattern of the jumpsuit fabric worn by Ziggy. The Space Oddity rd label is printed onto the reverse of baroque glass and then coated with silver leaf using water gilding methods.
The leaded panel was then inserted into the guitar. The guitar had been salvaged and repurposed to turn it into an LED light box, with remotely controllable warm and cool lighting.
