Red list. Red for danger. Red for endangered. Red glass. Red listed birds. Red listed crafts….

These were the stimuli and motivation for my recent works.

See, I was invited and accepted thru my wonderful QEST scholarship to exhibit at The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair (GNCCF). The event will take place at Victoria Baths in Manchester from the 19th -22nd October 2023.

The venue will provide a showcase for my work alongside four other talented qest scholars as well as almost 200 other independent artists and makers… I can’t wait. But what should I show? Thought I…

Mainly my work these days is driven by commissions…but this presented an opportunity to create something of my own choosing.

Stained glass (as a craft) was very recently placed on the red list for endangered heritage crafts. Coinciding with the last remaining UK glass blower, English Antique Glass, ceasing to blow flat glass.

Red lists… endangered glass… endangered birds… Turner’s touch of red!….some beautiful sheets of red glass… and I had found my inspiration.

I started by making some wee postcards…handpainted on clear glass and plated with red glass… Grasshopper Warblers that had warbled at me as I walked with a pal. Starlings that constantly murmur at me from my memory bank walls. (The postcards grew to murmuration size).

Then I began to ratch through my archive of random collected artefacts and debris..what fits where? I popped lesser spotted woodpeckers on vintage plane wood peckers…willow tits on cricket balls..scurrying little ringed plovers on red hot spirit levels…squeaky house sparrows on rusty red oil cans. Cuckoos on exploded clock springs. My collection was slowly coming together.

But i wanted to go further!

Starlings (underline)(headline). I have always wanted to develop these ever since I went on my masterclass course with Surinder Warboys at MYGLASSROOM in Suffolk, where liquid black flowing paint had stirred some ideas!

I looked at the samples I had done and thought about how i could push this idea further.

I began by watching Irridesent Black, a movie on vimeo by Darren Andrews..a stunning stunning piece of work. And I learned that starlings fly as a seven from youtube, to avoid bumping into each other… well thats a starting point.

On my drawing room walls I took a large blank piece of paper, a piece of black charcoal and the thought that I’ll start with seven and see where it leads… It was addictive. Pretty soon I’d covered that paper. But the thing I love about charcoal is that quality of rubbing back and going on over… correcting and adjusting. Layering and playing. A big roiling mass of black movement. But I can’t build something this size on spec thought I.

I began to think in glass. I purchased more red glass. This time a beautiful sheet of Lamberts from Pearsons glass in Liverpool… pale red, like the colour of thin blood. From my big drawing I extracted small sections and came up with three small panels that I could build and take to the show to showcase my skills and wares. I carefully cut the precious red glass and layered paints to capture those starlings. Oh what fun! What do you think?

I shall have further fun demonstrating on the third panel at the GNCCF event, where I shall it assemble it with lead and care. Come along if you can and you can handle the tools and materials of my endangered trade.

#GNCCF #craftsayssomething #victoriabaths