NGC Glass Prize
Supported by Weston Culture Fund
16 October 2021 – 13 March 2022
NGC Glass Prize is a European glass prize delivered by the National Glass Centre which features the work of over 40 artists who work in Europe.
The selected artworks on display were selected by a panel of judges including Sandra Blach, from Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Reino Liefkes, from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Julia Stephenson from National Glass Centre.
Supported by the Weston Culture Fund, the exhibition includes work by artists from England, Scotland, Wales, France, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Romania, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Estonia and Belgium. It showcases techniques and approaches including using found and mixed media, casting, hot glass, kiln forming, engraving, neon, pâte de verre, and video. The exhibition includes artists working at all career stages from internationally acknowledged masters to relative newcomers.
Image credit: Edmond Byrne & Adi Toch, Untitled, 2020 Photograph: Agata Pec
Winning entries
On Friday 15 October, the panel of judges selected the three winning entries. You can see these pieces alongside the other shortlisted entries in our exhibition.
1st place
Karlyn Sutherland
Based in Scotland, Sutherland’s body of work uses perspective and technical drawing as tools to contemplate and communicate a personal sense of detachment from place. It creates optical illusions, each pulling the viewer in by offering an abstracted spatial experience that is unreachable, both physically and temporally.
Suggesting depth and three-dimensional volume through overlaid planes of semi-translucent glass, this piece is a response to memories of early mornings at Pilchuck Glass School, pre-pandemic; folding shutters on windows revealing muted skies through misty air and changing light, and the promise of a new day.
Pilchuck, Autumn 2019 (5), 2021
37 cm x 74 cm x 2 cm
2nd place
Andrea Walsh
Walsh’s entry is a composition of three pieces, exploring the inherent qualities of the materials used, both individually and also when juxtaposed with one another. The glass vitrines each cradle a small ceramic box within, presenting unique studies of physical containment, yet are also imbued with feelings of care, emotion, and value.
Created using a series of slow, almost meditative techniques, the pieces are continuously refined at every stage. A purity of form is achieved in making by hand, with meticulous attention to detail, taking several months to complete from beginning to end.
Collection of Contained Boxes, 2018 10 cm x 100 cm x 15 cm
3rd place
Ida Wieth
Based in Demark, Wieth’s piece – Five Frames – challenges the properties of glass, and stresses the significance of parts played during a process. In a classic portrait format, the glass is framed, yet reaching out of the frame, creating a reflection and double image on the wall. The work reveals and accentuates traces from the making process, as the copper wire remains and reaches out as a natural extension of the glass, yet with a distinct curious quality to it in an expressive and a communicative manner.
Five Frames, 2019 48 cm x 30 cm x 17 cm
