Wild Glass

For the second part of my professional development award I am on a course with Australian glass artist, Kirstie Rea, at the studio of artist Silvia Levenson near Milan. The participants on the course are artists who come from all over the world including various European countries, USA, Israel and Brazil.

it is fantastic to have the opportunity to connect with such a diverse group of artists, all of whom are passionate about working with glass in all its aspects. Kirstie works in Canberra, Australia, where she has taught for many years alongside developing her own practice and she is a fabulous teacher. She specialises in working with folded glass and has extensive experience in this field and intimate knowledge of the workings of the kiln.

The aim of the course is to learn techniques and also to focus on the development of ideas and your personal practice. This is a great opportunity for me to have time away from my own studio to spend time focussing on learning new techniques and developing my new ideas in the company of other professional artists.

This whole trip is giving me the chance to contextualise and develop my practice and is providing much support and encouragement as well as ideas and technical support to  develop my work when I return to my own studio.

After an evening getting to grips with the orientation challenges of Venice and arriving at the Cymru yn Fenis party when the bar was dry (!), my first day at the Venice Biennale was a full one. I visited most of the pavilions in the Giardini and saw some interesting work.

Venice was photogenic as ever and there was plenty to see outside of the main biennale sites.

I am delighted to be showing my new glass work alongside work by 15 other women artists in the exhibition I am curating called Never Done. The aim of the exhibition is to show work by women artists from around the world to the small Pembrokeshire village of Maenclochog in the Preseli Hills.

The exhibition celebrates International Women’s Day and features work in glass, textile, metal, print and video, reflecting the diverse practice of the women in the show. The quality of both the ideas and execution in the work is testament to the skills and hard work of women artists working globally today.

The artists featured are:

Cathryn Shilling, Emma Woffenden, Helen Pailing, Jacqueline Martin, Jancis Vaughan, Jane Bruce, Julia Griffiths Jones, Kaori Maeda, Karen Browning, Linda Norris, Nancy Sutcliffe, Niela Kalra, Rachel Phillips, Ruth Sargeant, Sam Vicary, Sara Fell