Edinburgh College of Art
Glass graduation 2013

Outstanding work by Scottish Glass Graduates at New Designers
A showcase of Scottish glass graduates will open on the 25th of June 2013 at New Designers, London. The exhibition will showcase the most recent graduate work from the
ECA Glass Department. Outstanding work that demonstrates innovation, originality and creative expression within glass making techniques. This year's cohort of graduating students display the strength, breadth and vitality of the growing glass community at ECA and are now poised ready to take their place in the international network that is the Glass Art Movement. The following graduates work will be shown in this exhibition: Juliana Bolaños-Durman, Sarah Marshall, Laura Reed and A. B. Rushing. Each artist challenges the topography of glass utilising a broad range of techniques including blown, fused, cast, painted, engraved and stained glass.

Glass at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) challenges existing paradigms of practices across Art, Craft and Design. At the core of each is the materiality of glass through the exploration of new boundaries. The course encourages the creative language of each student and fosters conceptual development in tandem with a thorough technical education in order to create the potential for personal expression through making.
The postgraduate Glass programme at ECA exists to encourage students to position their work within and beyond the disciplines of glass. Glass has been present at ECA for over
100 years, the postgraduate course is unique within Scotland and located at one of the few centres of excellence in this discipline in the UK. Comprehensive college wide workshops including a state of the art digital fabrication lab and specific hot and cold glass studio facilities enable the student to experience a programme in the conception and production of glass to the highest level. We benefit from visiting professional practitioners and lecturers and students have the opportunity to participate in live projects and competitions. Students negotiate and develop a programme of study based on personal areas of practice based research. The programme fosters inter-disciplinary collaborations with other departments which creates an unique student experience and fresh, rich layers of learning embedded within innovative results.

The course is led by newly appointed Programme Director Geoffrey Mann and Glass lecturer Dr Jessamy Kelly. Should you wish to study Glass at a Postgradaute level at ECA there are two distict pathway; a MA which runs for 1 year and a MFA which runs for 2 years. Study places for entry this September 2013 are still available. For more information contact Geoffrey Mann: Geoffrey.Mann@ed.ac.uk

New Designers is an event held every summer at the Business Design Centre in London, some 3,500 newly graduated designers come together representing the top 200 design courses from across the nation to meet industry employers, the media, trend predictors & a design hungry public. 25th – 29th June, BDC, 52 Upper Street, London, N1 0QH, www.newdesigners.com.

Student Information:

Juliana Bolaños-Durman
[Mix&Match] Series
Blown & Found Glass with Engraving
2013
The primary theme within my creative process is the exploration of preciousness and play within the studio practice. Preciousness, it is not only the value or quality of the materials themselves but more so what they represent. I find myself choosing and treasuring things that have a story and a link that represent emotional connections.
Therefore, it is essential for the creative process to give the artwork the same significance, disregarding where it came from or how it was constructed. I want to create raw pieces that are put together intuitively by exploring the different materials and invite the viewer to become part of the journey. This is if how the [Mix&Match]
Series of 25 non-functional / sculptural vessels came to life. www.artsthread.com/p/julibd/

Sarah Marshall
Cast in the Past, Anchored in the Future
Blown, Sand-Blasted,Slumped, painted,Screen-printed, Leaded, Cast Glass, Found wood and stop-frame animation
2013
For some fantasy can never become reality. Cast in the Past is an exploration into the possibility that this is not the case. Imaginary characters attempt an escape from a 2D window into 3D space and secure themselves onto it using an anchor. Glass with its connections to mystical traditions is the ideal medium to describe such a phantasmagorical event. Perhaps for some at least, this story actually becomes more than just fiction!
I have used blown, painted, slumped, screen-printed, sandblasted and cast glass.
The wood was found. Digital technology convenes with tradition and projects an animation onto the central figure. www.artsthread.com/p/smarshall/

Laura Reed
Infectious Cruelty series
Blown Glass
2013
My work is an exploration of the cruelty of process. Exploring traditional ideals associated with studio glass making. My pieces are drained in colour, pulled stretched and distressed. Coming from a traditional studio background, I have deliberately Broken my own rules and challenged my chain of thought. Confronting what is considered to be bad practice for a glass blower. Creating symmetrical forms then distorting them by adding organic mounds of molten glass. Deliberately using colour in an infectious way to create bruising and discoloured patches. With blobmorphic, curved, living forms, the pieces are a juxtaposition struggling between cruelty and seduction. www.artsthread.com/p/lareed/

MFA Graduated
A. B. Rushing (USA)
Artist Statement
“This body of work focuses on the concept of memory and themes of transition. These ideas are complimented by the use of glass, a very transitive material, able to be hard and strong or delicate and ethereal. The work comes from a personal place and features my own stories and memories. I also gathered the memories of my extended family and focused on how our stories differed, adapted, and converged. This research manifested as two installations, one that begins deep inside my head and looks out and another that starts with the broader themes then draws the focus into the viewer.”

Statement about "I Sill Hear Your Voice" and making process:
“This work revolves around themes of memory. At its base is a dark pool of water, this pool represents the world around us. Suspended above the pool, and reflecting down into the water, are clear class boats that hold memories of my grandmother. The lower level of boats is my memories. These boats are hand-blown and each is unique, as are the memories etched onto their sides, glowing outwards. My memories all contain my marks, thoughts, and are individual, and are laid in a small constellation representing my Grandmother. Above these boats are the boats representing the memories of my family. They are more uniform, point the same direction, but are delicate and obscure. We all have unique memories of the same events, and the only ones I know are my own. These delicate pate de verre boats also reflect down into the pool. In this multi-level approach I study how the delicacy and multi-faceted nature of glass can express the transience of memory and the way it changes and molds the individual when all of these memories are reflected into daily life.”

Statement about "Mementos":
“In the piece 'Mementos', water is the catalyst which flows over the glass, changing it from one shape to another and then another. Here, the skulls morph slowly into rocks, which as they are broken down give way to tiny, crystal vines creeping into the light. In the same way, anyone who has read old journals sees their how fixed moments of memory are changed as time washes over them, growing and re-emerging as something new.” www.artsthread.com/p/abrushing/

The Glass department embraces the full range of opportunities afforded by the material, from the illumination of cathedrals, the skin of high-tech buildings and shimmering installations within them, to exquisite, crafted objects in the genres of glass art and design production. Comprehensive workshop and studio facilities will enable students to experience a programme in the conception and production of glass, which is both practical and theoretical. The Glass programme is a learning-through-making experience and is grounded in practice.

ECA Glass Department wins Major Award @ New Designers 2013
The ECA Glass department had a very successful week at New Designers accumulating with the only major glass prize sponsored by the Contemporary Glass Society being awarded to Juliana Bolanos-Durman and the runners-up prize being awarded to MA student Laura Reed. The judges commended both the professionalism of the students and fresh breadth of skills exhibiting across from the department. Bolanos-Durman was also short-listed for the New Designer of the Year Award.

MA/MFA Glass & PhD Research Degrees
Edinburgh College of Art
The University of Edinburgh
Lauriston Place
UK-Edinburgh EH3 9DF
+44 (0)131-6515800
eca@ed.ac.uk
www.ed.ac.uk/eca

Glass department: School of Design
Evolution House
78 Westport
UK-Edinburgh, EH1 2LE
+44 (0)131-6515714
UGDesign@ed.ac.uk