Art meets craft in Craft Scotland and Visual Art Scotland's showcase, designed to celebrate craft mediums.

Following on from the success of 2017, Craft Scotland was thrilled to partner with Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) once again to present a second in the series of media specific showcases. For 2018, we celebrated contemporary glass through a presentation of multidisciplinary works from gifted Scottish makers. Our media-specific showcases were born out of Craft Scotland and Visual Arts Scotland's mutual ambition to exhibit high-quality craft, alongside works of fine art, in a venue fitting of craft's stature. 

Challenging the common perceptions of glass, this year highlighted the diversity of glass techniques and styles in a dramatic presentation. Selected by the VAS committee and a representative of Craft Scotland, the three invited glass artists formed the starting point for a wider celebration of the diverse discipline of glass throughout the open exhibition. 

Alan Horsley
Drawing on a strong interest in glass chemistry and composition, Alan explores the incredible flexibility of the material to breathe life into his sculptures. The works reflect the complex, sometimes confusing, interactions between the physical and mental elements of our lives. Inspired by the figurative and design traditions of the High Baroque, Alan seeks to create bold, emotional sculpture which uses glass sensitively to afford a glimpse into the inner workings and mysteries of each piece.

Carrie Fertig
Carrie creates flame-worked glass in an interdisciplinary practice incorporating sound, light, fire, electronics, dance, and film to address emotional, spiritual, and physical states and thresholds. Her preferred materials are invisible or transparent: sound and clear glass. Her work is made with fire: ‘this elemental process speaks to my recurring subjects of human connection, self-knowledge, and flight and stasis. I build environments and situations to which people privately bring their deepest selves to visually public installations’.

Jeff Zimmer
Jeff Zimmer creates works with glass that explore ambiguity, morality and mortality in contemporary society and politics. His pieces are designed to engage with the sensual experiences of mystery and light. He subverts notions of light, investigating its capacity for evocation, mystery and ambiguity in place of its traditional associations with clarity, divinity, revelation and simplified notions of truth.

For this exhibition, Jeff will present works from three ongoing series: The Disconnect Between Action & Consequence, I’m Afraid of You, and Mobile Shrines.

Visitors saw this striking showcase as part of the annual VAS exhibition. For 2018, VAS and the Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) presented a single exhibition; OPEN. Curated by both societies, VAS and the SSA showed the furthest extremes of contemporary art practice, from craft to digital and everything in between.