Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Cambridge Open Studios – which boasts a thriving community of more than 500 artists – unveils its biggest and best festival yet this year and the Cambridge Independent is proud to support it. Artists working in specialisms from ceramics and glass art to woodwork and photography, will open their studios each weekend of July, and we talked to a number of them.
Glass maker Iain Smith
When retirement beckoned and his wife was busy with her work as a successful author, engineer Iain Smith knew he needed to find a new hobby to fill up his hours, writes Alex Spencer.
He went to a few workshops but wasn’t expecting to fall in love with art - after all, he had spent his life working in science and engineering - until he tried making objects with glass.
Now, 16 years later, his garage is dedicated to making exquisite coloured glass bowls and he is opening up his workshop to visitors during Cambridge Open Studios in July.
“I’ve come to this quite late in life,” says Iain, now 75, who lives in Chesterton. “But even now I feel excited when I take a piece of my work out of the kiln to see how it has turned out.
“When I was looking around for a hobby, I tried a weekend glass-blowing course and absolutely loved it. But It was completely unrealistic to do that at home because the glass-blowing furnace is far too big and they have to be running the whole time.
“But I was fascinated by the idea of making some glass things and so I looked around for something I could do at home. I discovered that you could make glass bowls in a small kiln that would work in an ordinary house. I found a little kiln that ran off a 13 amp socket. It didn’t need a huge amount of power but it was still big enough to make a 12 inch glass plate. So I just began to play around to see what I could do.”
His first piece was “incredibly simple”, recalls Iain.
He “slumped together” some pieces of coloured glass. “I still have the first piece I made,” he says.
“I was really happy with the result but since then I’ve made much more complicated things.
“I started off reading things on the internet and reading books about making objects in glass, and there’s a tremendous amount of information out there. My background is science and engineering, so I understood the technicalities of glass. I’ve since done a couple of master courses in a couple of other techniques. When I started just tried cutting pieces of glass, putting them together in the kiln so they’re fused them so they form one piece and then I would shape them into a mould. I looked at the results and thought, that looks nice. I’ve been doing it ever since.
“I think my scientific background also gives me an insight into form and colour and what looks good together.”
His latest project is making murrine bowls, which uses pattered glass canes chopped into short pieces and packed together to form circles of colour in the glass.
“It’s just such a lovely material to work with,” says Iain.
“There’s always new things to discover and that’s really what I’m doing at this point. I’m just trying to push my understanding of the material and what I can make from it in further directions. The key thing is that I’m trying to make thicker and thicker bowls. And interesting patterns and colour running through them in three dimensional ways.”
So far he has been able to make a 25mm thick bowl and the latest one weighs more than 1.5kg.
He says: “You make the glass cylinders like a stick of rock. I start by layering different colours of glass into a flower pot and then pull the molten glass through so that it has colours running through the inside. It’s very satisfying.
“Then I chop them into small pieces and stack them together before firing the whole thing in the kiln.”
This line of work was inspired by artists Amanda Simmons and Nathan Sandberg after he attended a workshop on the technique.
Iain is married to the novelist Judith Lennox, who is the author of 23 books.
He says: “My wife likes my hobby because she knows I’ve got something to do. She’s busy writing books. So she’s quite happy that I’ve got something to occupy myself with rather than hanging out at the house!
“And my grandchildren have all made small things. I’ve got them into the studio from about eight or nine onwards and - under proper safety conditions - they’ve all made little pieces and they seem to love it.”
He also runs his kilns using Raspberry Pi computers.
“They are perfect for the job,” he says, “and very Cambridge!”
Visit https://www.facebook.com/iainsglass
Five more to check out at Cambridge Open Studios
By Louise Cummings
Artists: Rebecca Dawson and Stefanie Loizou
Specialism: Handmade silver, gold and semi-precious stone jewellery (Rebecca) and multi-media and collage, using vintage book illustrations, material, beads, gold leaf and wire (Stefanie)
About: Rebecca started her artist journey with a foundation in fashion and textiles then completed a degree in Design Crafts in 1998. After working in another jeweller’s studio for a few years she went solo, making jewellery alongside raising a family. Inspired by the materials she uses, architecture and the natural world, Rebecca makes a wide range of easy-to-wear jewellery alongside stunning statement pieces and commissions.
Stefanie works mainly in book-art, which involves cutting and manipulating books, embellishing illustrations and transforming them into pieces of art. She says: “Miniature worlds explode from the page bringing the story to life, thus preserving the tale and capturing its essence. I often work within the realm of fairytales and began delving back into my childhood at Norwich School of Art and Design in 1997. There, I explored famous stories such as Alice in Wonderland through different materials and techniques. Nature is also a constant influence in my work and ephemeral objects such as a bird’s nest or the fragile skeleton of a leaf inspire me with their ethereal beauty.”
Where: 184 Cromwell Road, Cambridge CB1 3EQ
When: July 1-3, 6-7, 20-21
Artist: Liz Hartley
Specialism: Printmaking
About: Liz is a fine art printmaker who draws on the rural landscapes, natural forms and the colour around her. She likes to work in a variety of print media, but particularly enjoys linocut and working with plant material in monoprints or photolithography. She won a prize for the best 2D work at the Uttlesford Open in Saffron Walden and her work was selected for exhibition at the International Original Print exhibition at Bankside Gallery, London.
Where: 3 Church Path, Wendens Ambo, Saffron Walden CB11 4JZ
When: July 13-14, 20-21, 27-28
Artist: David Bennison
Specialism: Ethereal dreamscapes, metaphors and existential narratives
About: David studied illustration at the Cambridge School of Art and his current artwork explores the various compositional possibilities of curvilinear perspective. David began creating oil paintings to translate dream meanings and symbology into a visual language. However, his work has since evolved to express the existential struggles of humanity in a light-hearted way. David’s current work typically intertwines ethereal imagery, metaphors, and existential narratives to create intangible compositions that connect and flow seamlessly between canvases. David is influenced by a variety of artists and themes, including Piranesi’s architectural drawings, M.C. Escher’s graphic art and the illustrations of Paul Hess.
Where: The Box Café, 47 Norfolk Street, Cambridge CB1 2LD
When: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28
Artist: Esther Montero
Specialism: Textile arts
About: Esther works predominantly with fabric collage and hand embroidery, using repurposed fabrics from old clothing, linens and furnishing materials. She is currently exploring how to combine the colour, pattern and texture of the fabrics with different textile and embroidery techniques to create unusual contemporary portraits. They sometimes tell a story and often capture a moment in time, but always aim to engage the viewer and make them want to look closer. She has also created textile interpretations of her favourite paintings over the years, from artists such as Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani and Johannes Vermeer.
Where: 3 Sovereign Way, Cottenham, Cambridge CB24 8XR
When: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21
Artist: Nicholas Juett
Specialism: Painting
About: Nicholas’s previous artwork explored the ongoing impact of the discovery of his namesake Robert Juett’s extraordinary journey and journal of 1609, written during his voyage with Henry Hudson, seeking the elusive Northwest Passage on the River Hudson. He says: “I’ve pictorially presented in oil and charcoal up until 2019. This body of work still remains embedded in my new 2023 Battersea Power Station paintings with The Half Moon ship. I’ve set this painting series to evoke environmental visual statements alongside The Backs of Cambridge Universities. It’s political. Come and meet who is or who is not behind this.” You’ll be struck by the vibrant and colourful abstract brushstrokes that adorn the walls. The paintings are a beautiful fusion of hues and shapes, each one telling a unique story.
Where: 96 King Street,
Cambridge CB1 1LN
When: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21
More at bennisonart.com or Instagram @bennison.art
More on Rebecca on Instagram @rebeccadawsonjewellery and Stefanie @stefanieloizou
More at camopenstudios.org and Instagram @silverlocks_and_threads
More at camopenstudios.org
