19th April 2006
The depth of talented glass artists that now make their way to Lybster is astonishing. In a few short years Northlands Creative Glass has established a number of residency placements throughout the year in addition to series of master classes run by some of the world's most renowned glass artists and teachers.
A group of four artists from widely different backgrounds have been together for six weeks soaking up the Caithness atmosphere and putting their thoughts and energies into creating a series of pieces culminating in the exhibition at Quaterbras Studio in Lybster.
Sandy Gellis from Manhatten, NY who works in and with her environment working primarily on site specific projects exploring the interaction of art and nature. She had created a series of forms from locally collected materials and described them as you looked through the jars. The material was collected from widely different locations, mainly on the coast chronicling the mysterious process of nature in the permanence of her art objects. Her works have been shown extensively, most recently at La Speciola, Florence, the Hudson River Museum , Yonkers, NY, Karen MacReady Fine Art, NY and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has permanant collection on display at the Sedgewick branch library, Bronx, NY. Her work is in several public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum and the Smithsonian. See her web site - www.sandygellis.com
Luisa Restrepo an emerging artist was born in Columbia, graduated from Wolverhampton University where her degree was in Glass. From there she has move to the United States to england working as an assitant and has attended Plchuck Glass School, La Grancha, Spain and the Glass Furnace in Turkey where she worked as Teacher Assistant. She now lives in Mexico where she has started her own studio working on commissions and a range of glass items and jewelllery for sale. She teaches at the ESINVI Glass School and assists various artists.
Sean O'Neill is an emerging artist living and working in Seattle, WA. A recent graduate of the Appalachian Centre for Craft, he began blowing glass in high school at the Crefeld School in Philadelphia and has since worked in glass blowing studios in New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee and Seattle building up a range of experience in techniques. Recent accomplishments include receiving the Jon and Mary Shirley Glass Scholarship at Pratt Fine Art Center. Most recently Sean was Awarded Artist's residency along with the three others above at Northlands Creative Glass Centre in Lybster.
The exhibition at Quaterbras gave local poeple a chance to see some of the pieces created during the six weeks of the residency from four highly talented artists as Northlands goes from strength to strength. The four artists from widely diverse backgrounds have had the chance to exchange ideas and brought with them a huge enthusiasm for their craft pitting their expertise against the ever changing Caithness backdrop.
Photos From the Exhibition
Northlands Creative Glass