Glass Message Board
Glass Mall => Glass News => Topic started by: chilternhills on October 26, 2015, 10:37:18 PM
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Isle of Wight Glass Museum is proud to announce its establishment at Arreton Barns, the Island’s largest arts and crafts centre in the heart of the Isle of Wight. The location is ideal since there are two working glass studios in the village, one of which, the world famous Isle of Wight Studio Glass (IOWSG) founded by the Harris family, is directly next door. The other studio, Diamond Isle Sculptured Glass founded by Paul Critchley, has built a worthy reputation in the last decade. By adding a museum, we have created a centre of excellence for contemporary art glass at Arreton.
An announcement about the official opening of the museum was made at a Collectors Studio Day hosted by IOWSG on Sunday, 25th October. The museum will open its doors to the public on Saturday, 19th March 2016 with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The museum celebrates the design and craftsmanship of glass makers on the Isle of Wight both past and present. It will surprise many that there are seven currently active glass studios on the island and several others have worked there in the past. The museum aims to exhibit work by all these studios, with more than 1000 exhibits on show at opening.
Present at the announcement were: Sam Herman, one of the founders of the studio glass movement in Britain in the 1960s; Mark Hill, well known as an expert and author on contemporary glass and 20th century collectables on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and Collectaholics show; Ron Wheeler, the foremost expert on Isle of Wight Studio Glass, having been a glass dealer and secondary market specialist for the studio for 35 years; and William Walker, a renowned British glass artist who worked with Michael Harris in the 1970s to create Azurene, one of IOWSG’s most iconic designs.
Contact details:
Anton Doroszenko, Museum Director
Fiona Clegg, Educational Programme Director
Isle of Wight Glass Museum
Arreton Barns
Main Road, Arreton
Isle of Wight
PO30 3AA
Museum email: info [{{at}}] isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk
Educational programme email: edu [{{at}}] iowgm.uk
The museum does not yet have a web site (coming in 2016).
The press have reported on the news:
Isle of Wight County Press: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/new-museum-to-showcase-isle-of-wight-glass-92927.aspx (http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/new-museum-to-showcase-isle-of-wight-glass-92927.aspx)
Island Echo: http://www.islandecho.co.uk/news/glass-museum-to-open-at-arreton-barns-next-year (http://www.islandecho.co.uk/news/glass-museum-to-open-at-arreton-barns-next-year)
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Here is a view of the museum downstairs. The museum space is to the right and the new retail space for Isle of Wight Studio Glass is to the left beyond the central pillar. The museum has a the same area upstairs directly above the photo shown for more exhibits, and the same space again which will initially be used for storage and office space. This extra storage space will be an obvious place to expand into should the museum need to.
More pictures to come. We are still in the process of converting the building. Furniture, cabinets, etc will be installed in December. Structural work will finish, we hope, by the end of November.
Anton
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I have just added a blog post outlining what will be in the museum.
http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:4 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:4)
What you will see is pretty amazing, even if I say so myself ;D
Cabinets are being delivered on Thursday, 10th December. I had them especially commissioned and they look great. Not your commonly seen silver but a lovely gloss white, with loads of LED lights built in. We ordered 31 of them, with room for 50 to 70 items per cabinet. The cabinets are big, nearly all 1200 mm wide and 1950 mm tall, which makes for a good display.
Anton
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A tremendous and worthwhile effort, Anton. :)
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Thanks Sue. A ton of work but satisfying. :)
The museum will be exhibiting at the next Knebworth fair in February. For anyone attending, please come along and have a chat. Also, look out for the advert in the next issue of The Glass Cone (due out in January).
Anton
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Two things recently added to the museum web site:
A page letting you print out an A4 poster or an A6 leaflet to post in your locality:
http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:5 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:5)
A story about the installation of the cabinets, with some nice pictures:
http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:6 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:6)
Enjoy! :D
Anton
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Glass is at last going into the cabinets. ;D
Here is the blog post with some nice pictures: http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:8 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:8)
Just to whet your appetite a little, here is one of the pictures reduced in size.
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Congratulations on this new venture!
I noticed in your advertisement in The Glass Cone, that you listed a number of makers based on the Isle of Wight. I was a little surprised that the late Brian Blanthorn was not included in the list. Brian and Jenny Blanthorn moved their studio to the Isle of Wight in 1997. http://www.blanthorn.com/
Here is a link to some of the museums they are represented in:
http://www.adriansassoon.com/contemporary?view=artist&id=21
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Thanks for that. ;) I am learning all the time. In fact I was visiting Michael Rayner, founder of Island Glass which became Alum Bay Glass, at the weekend and he told me about Colin Green http://www.wightislandglass.co.uk/ (http://www.wightislandglass.co.uk/). It is amazing that the Isle of Wight is such a hot spot for glass making.
By the way, more glass has gone into cabinets at the museum; it now stands at just over 300 items. About 50 more are going in at the weekend. The coffee lounge has been set up too. Our recruitment drive for a coordinator and assistant is going well, with about 60 applicants to date. If you want to apply, the deadline is Monday, 1st February (see another post in this section of the forum).
I'll be making another blog post at the museum site shortly, to bring the latest news.
Phew! I am working my socks off, but it will be worth it.
Anton
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The programme for the museum opening event on Saturday, 19th March has been finalized. An excellent lineup of speakers has been assembled, including Mark Hill, well-known expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and co-presenter of Cracking Antiques, Uncovering Antiques and Collectaholics for BBC2; Richard Harris, managing director of Isle of Wight Studio Glass; Michael Rayner, founder of Island Glass and Alum Bay Glass; Timothy Harris, master glass maker at IOWSG; and Ron Wheeler, the foremost expert on IOWSG, having been a dealer in the studio's glass for over 35 years.
The full programme is here: http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:12 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:12)
There are now 700 pieces in the cabinets, with another 150 pieces ready to go in. The exhibit already looks amazing and there is more to come.
I can let you all know that the museum has just agreed to purchase an amazing collection from a prominent collector. More info will be announced soon. Watch out for a forthcoming blog post on the museum's web site.
I hope to see you at the opening event.
Anton
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Unfortunately this clashes with the AGM of the Society of Designer Craftsmen, so I won't be able to go, but it looks like a super programme.
Wishing you a very successful day.
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It all sounds hugely exciting Anton, and I hope all goes well for you at the opening. Please do share photos of the event afterwards with those of us who are too far away to be there. :)
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In a previous post I said that "the museum has just agreed to purchase an amazing collection from a prominent collector". Well I can now reveal that the museum has purchased the Mark Hill Collection of Mdina glass and Isle of Wight Studio Glass, one of the most important private collections of glass made by Michael Harris. ;D The collection distinguishes itself not for its size but for its quality. It contains some astonishing and unique pieces, many of which are illustrated in Mark's well known book on Michael Harris.
More here: http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:13 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:13)
Thank you for your best wishes Anne. Of course we will share pictures of the opening event. The press were at the museum today and will be present at the opening event too.
In other developments yesterday and today: Michael Rayner, founder of Alum Bay Glass, brought along a nice collection of over 20 pieces of his early work, nearly all of which have never been seen before. There are many great pieces included. Also, Ed Evans of Glory Art Glass contributed an interesting collection too. Pippa D'Arcy of Quay Crafts, perhaps less known since she came to glass making fairly recently, contributed three of her unique and very sculptural pieces.
If you can make it to the museum we would be pleased to see you.
Anton
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We are all ready to open tomorrow :) Hope to see you.
BTW, the address at http://www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk/ (http://www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk/) now does something useful. That is the address we are advertising on our information leaflets, etc.
Anton
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Sorry for butting into your thread about the Museum, Anton but I wanted to bring this thread to your attention.
Roy has very kindly said you are welcome to use his images of a superb "Crizzle and Cameo" perfume bottle on your website. I don't think there are many pieces from this rather exclusive range around! :)
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,62379.0.html
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Sorry for the delay in getting a story and pictures out about the museum opening. Here is the blog post about it with many nice pictures :D
http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:15 (http://isleofwightglassmuseum.wikidot.com/blog:15)
Enjoy!
Anton
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Anton, thank you for sharing the page with us, I wish I could have been there but this is the next best thing. Your display cabinets look amazing, I hope the museum gets lots of visitors!
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The museum continues to improve apace. Just three months after opening visitor numbers are encouraging.
We continue to add to the exhibits. Most interesting is that IOWSG next door to the museum are allowing us to put Michael Harris's original workbench and tools from the 1970s on show.
I have revamped the museum web site too and it is laid out much better. For all the latest news go to http://www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk/ (http://www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk/).
Anton