Bill Cliffe Gallery Exhibition

These are images of my work at the Bill Cliffe Gallery in Glasgow where I exhibited with other recent graduates in all disciplines from across Scotland. The gallery hand picked the artists from each art college and invited them to take part. I exhibited my work in the window along with other glass artists from my year that I have mentioned and given website details of in a previous post. Although I was really happy to exhibit at this gallery and felt privileged to have my art chosen with all these other great artists I did feel the display didn't show the panels to their full potential and looks as if it came about as a bit of an after thought. The gallery commission also meant that even after dropping my prices substantially the work was still too expensive.

To see images of the other displaying artists work look on the Bill Cliffe Gallery website

Dundee BSMGP

Detail from larger panel by Douglas Strachan a famous Scottish stained glass artist.

Extract from larger panel by Willie Wilson.

The British Society of Master Glass Painters annual conference 2009 was located in Tayside in the kingdom of Fife from Thursday the 27th till Sunday the 30th of August. I got to go to it for free although it's usually quite expensive so I was very lucky. We went and looked at a lot of historic stained glass in and around Dundee. We looked at the work of notable artists such as Christopher Wall, Louis Davie, Herbert Henry, Alexander Walker, Henry Holliday (some of the nicest), Willie Wilson (really, really fabulous), Margaret Chilton, Douglas Strachan (always a favourite) and Steven Adam Studios. It's well worth a look at some of the local churches if you happen to be in the area. St Andrews especially has a lot of great glass, All Saints church, St Salvadors college and Holy Trinity Church to name but a few.

Glass From the Third Floor

Arabic Panel

The Long Farewell

This panel is three layers thick and copper foiled. It is painted with brown and black tracing paint, fired and sandblasted. When looked through this layering creates a three dimensional effect. It is a family portrait of my parents the day my dad left for the Himalayas. I was very little at the time and it felt like he was gone for ages. This long farewell I feel however is synonymous with many other departures of loved ones, and with the pack on his back it looks a little like he's off to war. I suppose a lot of different interpretations can be read into this one image and although they look happy the title I feel anchors a slight feeling of sadness and maybe even foreboding. All goodbye's are hard and I will always remember my dad leaving as it was the longest time he'd ever been away from us. This portrait for me captures a moment for all of us that would otherwise be lost in time, and once immortalized in glass it could well outlive the people it is of.

Summer Winds

Two layers of fused glass, coloured with frit and sandblasted.

Circle Circle

6mm slumped glass with sandblasting

Underwater Monster and Me

This is a small glass panel with an example of gilding using gold and silver leaf. The leaf has been scratched away to reveal the underwater scene. I then pained the back with sign paints in red and blue. It's actually a really interesting process that I'd never tried before and it was simpler than I thought it was going to be. Definitely something I will try again in the future.