Glassmakers create a clear vision of landscape that inspired artists
A PAIR of internationallyacclaimed glassmakers have created a unique portrait of a picturesque corner of the North Pennines which has inspired artists for generations.
Stephen Gillies and Kate Jones, who have been making contemporary blown glass pieces together for more than 20 years, combined old and new techniques to produce this stunning piece for the exhibition
which depicts Teesdale.
The long-established artists run Gillies Jones Glass, based in Rosedale Abbey in the heart of the North York Moors National Park.
They have had their work displayed in galleries around the world, including London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and create cameo glass using mouthblowing and fine colouring from Swedish overlay.
Their pieces are decorated using sand-blasting and wheel engraving, techniques which erode the surface of the decorated glass to allow light to flow through, revealing layers of colour.
The traditional methods, learned during an international apprenticeship, are used by just a handful of glassmakers around the world.
The glass experts brought their skills to which is inspired by aerial views taken from digital satellite images captured through the seasons of Barnard Castle in County Durham and the surrounding countryside.
The exhibition can be seen at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, between Saturday, February 10 and Sunday, May 13.
Kate Jones, who spent a year training at the International Glass Centre in Dudley, near Birmingham, said: “The landscapes of Teesdale have long been an inspiration to artists including John Sell Cotman and JMW Turner.
“Our exploration and portrait of the area uses a different perspective – digital satellite imaging, which enables a new view of the landscape, revealing the geology, rivers systems and layers of human endeavour, carved into the land and overlaid for millennia.”
The Bowes Museum, open daily from 10am-5pm at the castle, also has a worldrenowned art collection which includes early works by French glassmaker Émile Gallé.