Process - 'Human Hands' - Games Exhibition 2012

'Human Hands' by Deirdre Finnerty, 2012

My panel, 'Human Hands', won third prize in the Games Exhibition in the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The exhibition was hosted by the Swansea School of Glass and in association with the British Society of Master Glass Painters. The exhibition consisted of 37 glass artists, many of whom are both nationally and internationally renowned.

I have posted here my process of design and fabrication for this panel. Process is an integral part of my own personal arts practice.

DESIGN & CARTOON - My idea for this panel was simple. I wanted to illustrate a pair of hands using stained glass techniques. I selected the colours of glass I wanted and placed them side by side in the window to work out an arrangement to suit my design. My design process for this was intentionally intuitive and immediate. I designed very freely and probably for the first time as it was not being graded. The only true judge was myself.

A cartoon is a full scale working drawing that shows where texture and paint is applied to the glass.

The cartoon or full scale working drawing

CUTLINE - The cutline is used to cut the precise shapes of glass. The cutline is an accurate plan of the heartline of the lead - this must be 1.4mm thickness. The cutline will also show you where you may need to adjust to eliminate unforeseen impossible cuts!

Cutting glass requires accuracy and skill. I immensely enjoy this part as I gain immense satisfaction from cutting a tricky curve or a temperamental type of glass. Personally, I see myself firstly as a craftsman and secondly as an artist. 

Cutline, set-square, grozers on a light-box

BLACKLINE - A blackline is when you paint the lead lines onto a piece of glass larger than the panel you're making using an acrylic based paint. This allows to see how your panel will look like when it is leaded up.

Selecting Glass

Using the blackline to see how the colours work together

Selecting more glass

SURFACE  - The techniques that I intended to use were sandblasting and painting. I chose to sandblast first and used the cartoon as a plan to show where the glass would be etched.

Looking at the cartoon next to the blackline to see where the paint and texture will go

Sandblasted glass in the window to see how the light works

PAINTING - I painted the glass whilst it was on the blackline so that I could see how the daylight worked with what I applied

Painting directly onto the blackline

Adding and removing paint

Unfired paint and enamels

Unfired paint on light-box

FIRING - The glass then needs to be fired to make the paint permanent. Firing temperatures depend on the type of kiln you have.

Glass in the kiln

'Human Hands' - Finished piece

The International Symposium of Architectural Glass

It is Monday and I feel that it is about time that I write about what I thought of the International Symposium of Architectural Glass. It was held at the National Glass Centre in the city of Sunderland. The theme of the symposium was "Working with light as a means of interaction between space and mind".


The opening key speaker was Judith Schaechter with a truly inspirational speech about, well, inspiration itself - the 'AHA! moment. That was a highlight of mine, I also had a chance to speak with her and ask her briefly about her work. I relayed my own situation, struggling with tradition and contemporary in my glass practice and asked how she sees herself. She said that she is often 'left-out' of the glass scene in America as is influenced and practices stained glass techniques. She is greatly inspired by the medieval stained glass and this is clearly reflected in her glass through colour, pattern, composition and subject matter. 


Alex Beleschenko spoke about his work saying that "architectural glass is at its best when it reveals itself over time" - glass with hidden secrets.


Carrie Fertig's piece called 'Homing' was quite resonant with me. I was drawn to the scale of the work, the site, the interaction and sense of inclusion that it had too. Each piece was carefully worked by hand and suspended individually to make a whole. I feel that I am inspired by it because of the craftsmanship involved, because she worked with every piece and how important that was to the finished work.


At this point, the discussion began to evolve around the question of 'intimacy' of the work and the processes involved - I feel that this was more directed at the larger architectural commissions but also at the cost involved in working in glass. Sometimes it is cheaper to get someone else to make it but then is the integrity of the work lost? Where is the craftsmanship in that? This was generally opposed to as the artists in question Alex Beleschenko and Judith Schaechter were both able to show that they both retain close contact with the glass during the process of fabrication - they were both very passionate about this as they are, quite clearly, very passionate about their glass.


Then Aidan Williams spoke - I'm not sure if I quite followed it exactly but my notes read about how we as people bring our own preconceptions into every space we go in. We all have memories and layers that we implant into a space - we wear them. That's about all I can make sense of but it was a very intriguing talk.


It was a great eye-opener to the contemporary architectural glass scene today with speakers from Europe, UK, Ireland and America - and a strong Swansea presence!


Another personal highlight was getting to meet Peadar Lamb and Debbie Dawson, both Irish stained glass artists that I greatly admire. Hopefully, I can meet them again and actually ask them some questions as they did most of the asking!


Links:
National Glass Centre:  www.nationalglasscentre.com
Judith Schaechter: judithschaechterglass.blogspot.co.uk
Peadar Lamb: www.peadarlamb.com
Debbie Dawson: www.debbiedawsonstainedglass.com