Welsh Glass at the Culture Capital

Work from five of the world’s leading female glass artists, and Swansea Metropolitan University Alumni, is currently on show at a high profile exhibition in Liverpool, as a part of the citiy’s 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations.

Gathering Light is a major new exhibition of international contemporary stained glass showing at the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral between June 7th and August 27th 2008. It was opened by the world-renowned artist Patrick Reyntiens OBE, who created the majority of the original glass, including the lantern, in the city’s prominent landmark Cathedral.

Twenty years ago, a group of female artists working with glass from around the world came together for an exhibition in Germany, entitled ’36 Women from 12 Countries’. This gathering heralded the start of the Women’s International Glass Workshop, which now exhibits across the world.

Of the nineteen global exhibitors on show in Liverpool, five are former students of the famous Welsh School of Architectural Glass at Swansea Metropolitan University. These are Chris Bird-Jones, Catrin Jones and Amber Hiscott from Wales, Chinks Vere Grylls from England and Sachiko Yamamoto from Japan.

Chris Bird-Jones, the exhibition organiser, is originally from Wrexham and a long-established glass artist whose work has featured in exhibitions throughout the world. Catrin Jones, originally from Cardigan, studied architectural stained glass in Swansea from 1979-1982. Swansea resident Amber Hiscott is a professional glass artist whose work includes the Glass Towers in Cardiff Bay. Japanese artist Sachiko Yamamoto, who studied in Swansea during the early nineties, makes intricate, light-filtering glass panels, which contain innumerable, tiny, light-reflecting, glass pieces. Chinks Vere Grylls, originally from Chelmsford, studied architectural stained glass in Swansea from 1979-81. Today she works as an artist, designer and consultant.

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