Fine art of glass reflects common purpose

The title of this show is well chosen. It suggests not only a coming together of disparate ideas and techniques but also a meeting of minds, conjoined in some common purpose.

Glass as a medium for fine art is less well understood in Scotland than in other parts of the world such as Scandinavia, eastern Europe and North America, partly because the heritage of architectural stained glass was so crudely curtailed by the Reformation and only revived by the Victorians. Only one art school now teaches the subject and it is limited to master’s courses. So, it has fallen to Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and North Lands Creative glass studio in Caithness, the country’s only other international centre of excellence, to promote and teach skills and techniques accumulated over centuries.

Almost all the artists in the show have links with these organisations and their rigorous training is evident. Jessamy Kelly teaches at ECA and also runs her own business as an independent glass artist. Over the years she has honed a technique of combining apparently incompatible materials of ceramics and glass to create work strongly linked to place, identity and nature. These might be called emotional topographies and several of her works on display reflect this, suggesting connections and affinities through a stylised sculptural map of Scotland.

Kate Henderson is well known both as a traditional painter and an artist in glass. In the show she combines both, exploring her interest in architecture and interior space using stylised domestic forms, made of water-cut and sandblasted glass. Many of these are small, framed works, which reference painting but also sculpture.

Combining blown glass with cold-working techniques, Vicky Higginson produces vessels in bright, garish colours. These hint at function but are really metaphors and symbols (with titles such as Spiral, Self Doubt and You’ll Fail), that draw in the viewer but create a sense of disquiet with their hooks, spikes and hybrid forms.

Susan O’Connor’s highly decorative, coloured wall-mounted sculpture, bursts with excitement and energy. She uses a variety of techniques, principally slumping, where glass is melted over steel thimbles to create rounded forms, displayed in circular patterns.

Like Kate Henderson, Karen Akester looks at domestic space but from a closer perspective, making moulds from material such as embossed wallpaper that she casts in black or white glass. Amanda Baron’s work is the most delicate and abstracted on show. Her collection is the result of a residency on the island of Eigg, with her pieces are infused and informed by Hebridean colour, light and material.

This impressive body of work from the artists demonstrates a rich source of ideas and skills and augurs well for glassmaking in Scotland.

Until August 25