Visit to Stourbridge
Today I visited the White House Cone Glass Gallery in Stourbridge to view Bruntell Astley's Exhibition of Contemporary Glass Art. The exhibition is set in a modern white gallery with good natural and artificial lighting. There was a good range of cast, blown, flameworked, and fused glasswork on display by internationally renowned artists, including Heike Brachlow, James Devereux, Katharine Huskie, Elliot Walker, and Peter Layton, as well as local glass artists such as Georgia Redpath. Also on display were some works by local college students and some were every bit as good as the professionals.
One of my favourite pieces was Jonathan Harris's 'Peony Multi-core Intrinsic Cameo 34cm'. The detail and colours are just stunning, really making good use of glass's properties.
I met and chatted with Allister Malcolm and watched him and his assistant make a commissioned vase in the studio in The White House. It's a spacious modern studio with only 1 furnace, glory hole and annealing kiln. There are benches and a raised small staircase from which visitors can watch. In part of the same room, there are works for sale, along with a small bed for grinding and polishing glass. Compared to other hot glass studios I've been in, it's nice and airy, helped partly by the tall ceiling architecture and angled roof that allows heat to dissipate.
Across the road is Red Cone Museum which is partly housed in one of the old bottle factories of the area. It has a small collection of old and some more modern pieces, as well as educational boards and videos detailing information about how glass used to be made there.
Again both are worth a visit if you are in the area and I intend to revisit when I have more time.
