Combining printmaking and waterjet cutting glass for the development of creative practice and the cultural sector
Submitting Institution
University of SunderlandUnit of Assessment
Art and Design: History, Practice and TheorySummary Impact Type
CulturalResearch Subject Area(s)
Engineering: Manufacturing Engineering
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
Summary of the impact
Research at the Institute of International Research in Glass (IIRG), into
the combination of water-jet cutting and print for glass has been
influential in the offering of insights and new working methods for the
international community of artists and designers within and beyond the
creative glass community, which in turn has resulted in the production of
innovative artworks, public commissions and exhibitions. Innovations in
technique have influenced the commissioning and interpretation of artworks
for the cultural sector.
Underpinning research
Prof. Kevin Petrie has been employed at Sunderland since 2000 and became
Professor in 2008. Petrie's Glass and Print (2006) was the first
book aimed at the studio based artist which considered the potential
benefits of the blending of techniques and materials from two distinct
strands of the creative sector: Glassmaking and Printmaking.
This allowed for the generation of both original research and
presentation of existing knowledge in a new accessible format for studio
based artists and designers. It provided an updated history of the
development of glass and print methods c1755 to the present. In addition,
it identified contemporary approaches that could be utilized by artists
and designers from the areas of Hot Glass, Kiln Glass, Architectural Glass
and Printmaking. Glass and Print has sold over 4600 copies. It has
regularly featured in the top 10 bestselling printmaking books on www.amazon.com
website and has been reviewed in the Printmaking Today journal. Petrie's
second book Ceramic Transfer Printing (2011) is one of the first
dedicated to the creative practice and research of ceramic transfers or
decals with a focus on the creative potential for studio-based artists or
designer-makers. It also up-dates aspects of Glass and Print.
Kevin Petrie's research has led to invitations to teach glass and ceramics
print methods in universities in China (Tsinghua) and Australia
(Australian National University). He was awarded a National Teaching
Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2010. Nominations for this
award must demonstrate evidence of: enhancing and transforming the student
learning experience both within and beyond their own institution. Petrie's
teaching of his research around the world was a key factor in this award.
Dr Vanessa Cutler (PhD student 2002-2006 then Research Councils Academic
Fellow 2006-7) articulates her investigation into the creative uses of
abrasive water jet glass from the perspective of an artist. Her doctoral
research led to the University of Sunderland purchasing a large waterjet
for creative cutting (funded by EU and regional development agency
funding). Through `informed play', she developed individual and intricate
methods for cutting glass, based on her experience with stained glass for
architecture. Such cutting redefined the rules for how a piece of glass
can be cut and formed. Her work with artists and designers was used as a
case study to suggest that bespoke work for creative practitioners could
be a way of expanding on its use and possibilities.
Dr Jeffrey Sarmiento (Research Council UK Academic Fellow 2006-11, Reader
since 2011) developed and combined the techniques of waterjet cutting and
printing within studio practice, exposing new methods to embed imagery
into glass. This technique of image transfer to glass had been
predominantly used on the surfaces of cast and blown glass. Sarmiento's
innovation was fusing multiple printed surfaces to create graphic images
layers within the glass. His artworks then utilized traditional techniques
of glass polishing and waterjet cutting, combining the image with the
transparent glass form. Through international dissemination he has shared
his practical knowledge to studio-based artists and the glass industry.
References to the research
Provide references to key research outputs, any key research grants, and
evidence of the quality of the research (Maximum of 10 references).
Cutler, V 17th International Conference on Water Jetting.
pp.245-256 Publisher: BHR Group Limited 2004. ISBN: 1 85598 059 2 Mainz,
Germany 7-9 September 2004
Petrie, K (2006). Glass and Print. A&C Black, London and
University of Pennsylvania Press (2004 HEFCE/University of Sunderland
Research Development Fellowship awarded to K Petrie. in collaboration with
the Royal College of Art to develop this research. c£28,000)
Petrie, K (2011). Ceramic Transfer Printing. Book. A&C Black
Ltd and American Ceramic Circle.
ISNB: 978-1-408-11328-8
Sarmiento, J (2007). Encyclopaedia solo exhibition, Robert Lehman
Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Testing, fabrication and exhibition of the works were funded by a
California State University Research Grant and a University of Sunderland
Research Fellowship £7000. Bullseye Glass Co. provided material
sponsorship. The exhibition resulted from a three months 2005 Visiting
Artist Fellowship at Urban Glass, the major international workshop for
glass in New York.
Other Funding:
2003 Arts and Humanities Research Board. Small Grant in the Creative and
Performing Arts. The development of digital flexography as a method to
integrate form and image in Glass. Awarded to K Petrie. £4845.
Graded A.
2005 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Grant of £415,000 for
workshop and equipment (water-jet)
2005 AHRC/RCUK Fellowship in Glass — Vanessa Cutler
2006 AHRC/RCUK Fellowship in Glass — Jeffrey Sarmiento
Details of the impact
The research of the IIRG has increased the range of methods available for
creative industries and practitioners. It has also extended the awareness
of historical precedents, available methods and current practice for the
glass and printmaking constituencies, organisations supporting creative
industries, and the creative glass manufacturing sector. It has benefited
the creative industries by developing and disseminating methods of working
that can be applied to studio contexts. Through the interface of artworks
in museum contexts, the research has created the potential to make new
forms of artwork that add to society, culture, the environment and quality
of life.
The work extends into the field of international glass art practice and
industry. This includes masterclasses for both enthusiasts and
professional artists in art centres, public access glass studios, and
major glass suppliers including: Anla Glas (Denmark), Espace Verre
(Canada, funded by Quebec government to support creative industries), Bild
Werk, Germany, Creative Glass (Switzerland), Bullseye Glass (USA) and the
world-renowned Pilchuck Glass School. The methods developed by members of
IIRG form the basis for printing techniques used and taught by Bullseye
Glass Company, a major manufacturer and supplier to the creative studio
glass industry. Sarmiento went to Portland, Oregon to give a presentation
to the 250 international attendees of BECon 2009, Bullseye's biannual
conference on kiln-glass. At that time, he also led a post-conference
workshop at Bullseye detailing methods that he has developed in print
technologies in kiln-glass. Their `Screenprinting for Kiln Glass' workshop
formed part of their education and outreach offering. The impact of both
his lecture and workshop continue to be felt in the glass community, and
the curriculum of his workshop is largely the foundation for a workshop
dealing with similar methods that taught at Bullseye. Since Sarmiento's
class in 2009, Bullseye have taught the processes to 215 students in 25
classes at three Bullseye Resource Centers in Portland, Santa Fe, and the
Bay Area.
Artists' work has been expanded greatly through waterjet cutting, and the
art projects vary greatly in scope and scale. National Glass Centre has a
commercial and special projects enterprise branch, which helps to produce
design products and artworks. Staff use their research expertise to advise
on and fabricate bespoke projects. These include supporting small
businesses such as Rena Holford, whose sculpture of a glass horse is on
permanent display at Bamburgh Castle (http://www.hagghillglass.co.uk/).
Charlotte Hodes, winner of the Jerwood Drawing prize, had her drawings
rendered in fused and waterjet cut glass for Kith and Kin II, an
exhibition at National Glass Centre, in 2012 which featured artists who
usually work in other areas, and who are exploring glass or ceramics as
creative materials.
The creative industries have `reached in' to use NGC facilities through
various access schemes and to benefit from the practice based research of
the academic team. Annually over 40 artists use the IIRG workshops and
collaborate with staff, including in 2011 world leading artist Cerith Wyn
Evans. Through collaboration with arts commissioning agencies Locus+ and
Great North Run Culture, Wyn Evans created a large-scale artwork in
collaboration with Sarmiento, using the water-jet and fused glass. Wyn
Evans was then invited to exhibit the work, Permit yourself... , a
large scale kjinetic sculpture formed from double sided mirrors, with text
intricately cut out of each panel and assembled as a huge mobile, at the
Venice Biennale of 2011.
The impact of research and innovations of the department have gone beyond
the scope of the glass art field, reaching into other sectors including
cultural tourism. The commissioning of new artworks in museum settings has
impacted upon public collections and the interpretation of artworks. The
Museums concerned have worked with IIRG to develop new ways to communicate
historical, scientific or factual information from the adoption of this
technique by creative artists. Sarmiento and colleague Inge Panneels
created Liverpool Map, a monumental sculpture commissioned for the
Museum of Liverpool, which incorporated the fusing of printed and
water-jet cut glass to create a sculptural map of Liverpool. The work
allows for different aspects of the city to be visualised and includes the
voices of members of the general public in the work. Panneels' waterjet
cut and fused artworks were commissioned for the visualisation of the work
of historical cartographer Mercator at the Mercator Museum, Belgium.
Glass Senior Lecturer Colin Rennie's artwork ATP Synthase in
waterjet cut glass visualizes the work of MRC scientist John Walker and
has been exhibited in Sunderland, Nobel Museum in Stockholm and the
Medical Museion in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sources to corroborate the impact
Cutler, V: New Technologies in Glass. A&C Black 2012
(includes IIRG researchers Sarmiento, Panneels and Dickson, has sold over
2000 copies since its release in late 2012)
Cerith Wyn Evans in Interloqui exhibition http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/crafts-
magazine/news/view/2011/interloqui?from=/crafts-magazine/news/list/2011/5
Transcripts of papers for the `Glass and Print' symposium at the Royal
College of Art. http://glassandprint.info/index.html
Wesselman, F. (2007). Book Reviews: Glass and Print. Printmaking
Today: Artists' prints, books and multiples. Vol 16, no 1, p.34.
"Having experience in printmaking and stained glass I found this an exit
citing book. Every new chapter had me thinking that I ought to experiment
with whatever was under discussion. The author is well qualified as
practitioner and academic and has enlisted others to describe particular
areas of expertise. The result is a treasure trove of possibilities to
marry ancient and modern printmaking techniques with glass..."
Phil Redmond said of the Liverpool Map, "If capital of culture year was a
chance to invigorate the city physically, the Liverpool Map was a prime
opportunity to investigate past emotions and future aspirations. We saw a
wide variety of approaches and ideas, but Inge Panneels and Jeffrey
Sarmiento's grand vision of Liverpool stood out, fusing as it does more
than glass, entwining old and new, past glories and deep pain, our living
breathing cultural icons, beloved buidlings; language, literature and
landscape. Together, through their research, and the contributions of
Merseyside's public, they painstakingly built up the multi-layered persona
that defines what it is to come not from the city, but the state of place
and mind that Scourcers call, home". Davies, L and Shaw, F. (2013) Layers
of Liverpool — Mapping a sense of place. Liverpool: Wordscapes
Jeremy Coote, Museum Ethnographers group: `The theme of the conference
built on the final discussion at 'Making Things' (MEG's 2010 conference at
the University of Reading's Museum of English Rural Life), when there was
an interesting but unresolved discussion about the point of analysing
labels and catalogue entries. While some argued that the main point of
such work was to throw light on original provenance and thus on indigenous
purpose and meanings, others emphasized the value of a focus on old labels
and texts for studying the lives of objects in museums. The 2011
conference was an attempt to continue and broaden this discussion.' http://www.museumethnographersgroup.org.uk/en/conference/333-2011-conference.html
Sarmiento, J & Panneels, I (2010). Public Artwork, The Liverpool
Map, commissioned by Museum of Liverpool 2008-11. (A total funding
of £40000 received from Open Culture and National Museums Liverpool.)
Bullseye Glass Inc, USA. Link to online lessons adapted from Sarmiento's
research: http://www.bullseyeglass.com/education/lessons/screen-printing-with-enamels-part-1-172.html