Stourbridge Glass Festival

By Worcestershire Life on July 16th 2010

The Oxford Dictionary definition of glass hardly begins to describe the wondrous properties, and the look, of this fabulous material:
“A substance, in its ordinary forms transparent, lustrous, hard and brittle, produced by fusing sand (silica) with soda or potash (or both), usually with the addition of lime, alumina, or lead oxide.”
It was the expert fusing of sand with soda or potash which made Stourbridge famous the world over for its glass. And this month the town celebrates its glass-making heritage with the International Festival of Glass which attracts glass designers from all over the world hoping to be one of the chosen few to exhibit at the Glass Biennale.
Artist Keith Brocklehurst founded the festival in 2004. “I thought: ‘Stourbridge has got all this glass heritage but what is happening to celebrate it?’ Two hundred years ago this was the world centre of glassmaking, Stuart’s Glass just up the road, closed 10 years ago, the company made the glass for the Titanic. It is in the very fabric of Stourbridge. For generations, since 350 years ago, glassmakers have been here. There was a massive heritage around and in a way it was not all pulled together.”
The festival celebrates the glass-making past of the area but also looks to the future – one that leans more towards the artistry of glass than the traditional manufacture of practical and decorative pieces. Back in the 1960s when artists first began taking an interest in glass as a medium they were rather frowned upon by the die-hard traditionalists at the factories, says Keith. 

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“The factories wouldn’t let them through the gates. I am quite amused by the fact that 30 years ago I drove past the gate house here, saw the glassmakers in the royal glass house and they wouldn’t have let me in the factory, yet now here I am keeping glassmaking alive and the factories have gone. The dinosaurs have gone, if you like, and the mice are still playing and making glass.”
The festival unites the Ruskin Glass Centre, the Red Cone, one of the few cones remaining in Britain, and the Broadfield Glass Museum. Its big attraction is the British Glass Biennale which takes place at the Ruskin. This is where the nation’s best glass artists showcase their work and competition to be accepted is fierce. Some 449 pieces were entered this year and only 96 were given a coveted spot, alongside 19 pieces from invited, established artists.
“The exhibition is recognised internationally. It’s like a sampling point of what is happening in British glass. I am really surprised and also really pleased that even in this present economic climate and difficulties there is still a lot of really interesting stuff happening in glass,” says Keith.
Local artist, Lisa Sheppy from Defford, near Pershore, was “seriously elated” when she heard that her piece ‘Charlotte’s Dress’ had made it into the Biennale at her very first attempt.

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“I wanted to see whether my work would be well regarded enough to be exhibited, as the jury for the show are really well respected individuals from the glass field,” she says.
For her the festival is special. “It’s a place where there will be so many like-minded people working with the same genre of materials will be exhibiting and discussing their work.”
Lisa’s piece for the Biennale is a glass dress made from 39 individual pieces of fused glass mounted onto a steel cage. “This piece is based on the story of Charlotte Brontë’s wedding dress which was symbolically destroyed by her husband after her premature death at 39. The 39 pieces of glass mounted onto the dress frame mark each year of her short but significant life and the steel cage dress frame relates to the absence and presence of this important woman from history.”
Another local artist who is exhibiting at the Broadfield House Glass Museum during the Festival is Robyn Smith from Dudley. She is part of a group of nine female artists of different nationalities exhibiting their pieces under the banner of The Silicon Girls.

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The group met at a master class run by the Argentinean artist Sylvia Levenson who encouraged them (and herself) to produce an exhibition for the festival entitled Hi Honey I am Home.
“We all came with home symbols and we all used domestic themes in our work,” Robyn says. “We chose to do that master class because of Sylvia’s work initially and it was an emotional week of being women and being creative together.”
Although described as “a cheeky peek through the curtains at what lies behind the perfect suburban façade,” in reality the pieces go deeper as for each artist the title meant something personal.”
Robyn is hoping to create a gate, which for her symbolises a division between her past life when she suffered from depression and the future.
“The gates were a way of saying I am leaving that behind and it’s a kind of step forward into the future. I wanted it to be like I am flinging open these gates and I am walking forward and away from all this stuff. “For me the process is all what it’s about and the finished piece almost becomes irrelevant.”

Glass events
The International Festival of Glass takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend (27th-30th August) over several sites around Stourbridge, although some of the exhibitions are open until the second week in September

The Red Cone Centre
‘The Next Big Thing’ exhibition features work by recent glass graduates, ‘The Made in Glass’ exhibition will show work from two contemporary artists and there is an exhibition of engraved glass.

The Broadfield House Glass Museum
‘The Furniture in Glass’ exhibition features contemporary furniture from artists from around the world, ‘20th Century British Glass’ exhibition documents developments in glass during the 20th century. Hi Honey I am Home exhibition from The Silicon Girls is from 24th August to 12th September.

The Ruskin Centre
The British Glass Biennale 2010 - 115 major new glass works by selected and invited artists, open from 27th August to 11th September.

There are also glass-making demonstrations, have-a-go sessions, talks, a bead fair, street entertainment and much more. And to make it easier to get around the different sites there’s a shuttle bus service. Tel: 01384 399410 or www.ifg.org.uk for more details.

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