Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth

Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth
We learned how to make glass by talking to glass makers at Caithness glass,
and to glass designers Helen Macdonald and Alastair MacIntosh.
Pupil, Braco Primary School
ContentsPage
Foreword
2
Perth glassmaking: a rich and diverse history
4
Including hard-to-reach communities
6
The Graham Cooley Collection
9
The art of collecting 12
Understanding Glass: a hands-on approach
16
Perthshire glassmakers in their own words 27
Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth: the legacy
28
Did you know?
31
Acknowledgements
33
2
Foreword
Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth is an exciting
project aimed at raising awareness of the area’s rich
tradition of glassmaking and increasing public access
to the fabulous collection of local glass exhibited in
Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Since 2012, some 300 adults and young people across
Perth and Kinross have embarked on a voyage of
discovery. They have gained new skills, acquired –
and shared – new knowledge, interviewed former
glassmakers, watched current glassmakers at work,
met artists and curators, handled and assessed
exquisite pieces of Perthshire art glass, and even
made their own artworks out of glass.
Participants learned a lot – and had fun.
The trigger was an act of philanthropy: glass collector
Graham Cooley’s decision to donate his impressive
collection of Caithness glass to Perth Museum and
Art Gallery. These 340 pieces, including some made
in Perth, complemented the locally-made examples
of Monart, Vasart, and other art glass already held by
the museum. But there wasn’t the space to put every
donated item on permanent public display.
Why not give the citizens of Perth a chance to
examine and handle these pieces in the museum
stores?
To help them appreciate the collection, participants
needed to find out more about the importance of the
glass industry in the area, and its wider influences.
They found themselves asking questions about glass
and its properties, the techniques used by the master
craftsmen who created Perth’s world-famous art glass,
and the skills involved in cataloguing, conserving and
managing a public glass collection.
And so began a wide-ranging exploration with four
enduring legacies:
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Increased awareness of the globally significant
part Perthshire has played – and continues to play
– in glassmaking.
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Fascinating oral history recordings of past and
present glassmakers which will be preserved in the
city’s archives and local libraries.
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A new sense of identification and ownership
among participants: a sense that the city’s
glassmaking tradition, and the glass collections
in the museum, are part of their own personal
heritage.
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A deeper understanding of the complex business
of managing a public glass collection.
3
Primary and secondary schools in Perth and Kinross
took part, along with adult learners reached through
Fairfield Neighbourhood Centre, parents and young
children recruited through the annual Tents in the
Park festival, and members of Perth-based mental
health groups. Many participants came from sectors
of the community Perth Museum and Art Gallery has
found hard to reach in the past.
Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth was supported by
the Heritage Lottery Fund and Living Communities,
a partnership between Perth & Kinross Council and
the Gannochy Trust. The Living Communities model
is based on the principles of the Curriculum for
Excellence. It brings different generations together
to explore, preserve and celebrate local heritage
that might otherwise be forgotten, and helps
people acquire the skills to interpret what they have
discovered through creative expression.
The varied programme of activities and events was
designed to further two key Scottish government
priorities:
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lifelong learning: enabling people to develop the
confidence, enterprise, knowledge, creativity and
skills needed to participate in economic, social and
civic life.
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education for citizenship: empowering people to
take their place in society as successful, effective
and confident citizens, by developing informed
decision making and the ability to take thoughtful
and responsible action.
We hope you, too, will enjoy learning about the glass
heritage of Perth.
I never knew there were so many
types of glass.
Pupil, St Dominic’s RC Primary School
4
Perth glassmaking: a rich and diverse history
Perth has been famous for glassmaking since the
19th century, when John Moncrieff’s North British
Glassworks made gauge glass for locomotives,
steamships and naval vessels around the world.
In the 1920s the business diversified. The proprietor’s
wife, Isabel Moncrieff, worked with master glassmaker
Salvador Ysart to design an exquisite range of
coloured art glass they named Monart.
In 1946 Salvador Ysart and two of his sons, Vincent
and Augustine, set up their own glassworks in
Perth making a rival product, Vasart. Difficulty in
sourcing colours after the war made the range easily
distinguishable from – and some say, inferior to –
Monart.
A third Ysart son, Paul, stayed with Moncreiff’s to
become a pioneering paperweight-maker whose
designs are now highly collectable. In 1962 he took
his skills to Caithness Glass, based in Wick. Later,
paperweight production was transferred to Perth.
Paperweights were just one of Caithness Glass’s
successful lines. Designer Domhnall Óbroin’s
‘Loch, Heather and Peat’ collection of decanters,
globlets, vases, bowls and other glassware was
particularly popular in the 1960s. It fused fashionable
Scandinavian-influenced design with colours inspired
by the Scottish landscape.
These major names in glassmaking trained many
apprentices, some of whom left to join other firms
or to set up independently. Crieff, too, became
a glassmaking centre, home to Strathearn Glass
(successor to Vasart), Perthshire Paperweights and the
still-thriving John Deacons.
Today, the area’s glassmaking tradition continues
with Caithness Glass, based in the former Perthshire
Paperweights factory in Crieff; industrial glassmakers
Spectraglass in Perth; John Deacons; and a number
of other independent glass artists and craftspeople.
John Moncrieff’s retains a base in Kinross.
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Images courtesy of Perth Museum and Art Gallery
6
Including hard-to-reach communities
Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth set out to widen
opportunities for people in Perth, especially those
citizens who had never crossed the threshold of
Perth Museum and Art Gallery and had no idea of the
treasures within.
The project was introduced to families in August 2013
through the annual Tents in the Park Festival on Perth’s
South Inch, organised by Perth & Kinross Council
Community Learning and Development. Participants
had the opportunity to explore glass art through
practical workshops with glass specialists, and to talk
with staff about the up-and-coming project activities.
Local historians chatted about John Moncrieff’s
Monax glassworks, once a Perth landmark, and the
ramshackle wooden building on the Shore where the
Ysart family made Vasart art glass.
We learned Salvador Ysart made a glass
table for the Queen.
Pupil, St Dominic’s RC Primary School
A postcode survey showed a much wider range of
participants than Perth Museum and Art Gallery’s
usual visitor demographic. Many of these people
went on to take part in the Glass Art Project.
Several Perth and Kinross primary and secondary
schools also signed up to take part. A partnership
with the NHS-funded Perth Creative Community
Collaborative recruited members of two local mental
health groups.
7
Families explore glass
history and making
techniques at the
Tents in the Park event
8
Community participants
investigate the Graham
Cooley glass collection
with Helen Macdonald
9
The Graham Cooley Collection
Perth Museum and Art Gallery holds the most
important collection of locally-manufactured glass
in public ownership. Recently that collection was
enhanced by a major acquisition.
The 340 items in the Graham Cooley Collection cover
Caithness Glass’s entire 50-year production history.
They include rare early and limited-edition pieces and
glassware from the Loch, Heather and Peat range so
popular in the 1960s.
Caithness Glass from the Loch, Heather and Peat collection
The decanters, globlets, vases, bowls and other
glassware in Domhnall Óbroin’s Loch, Heather and
Peat range were quickly recognised as design classics,
winning the approval of the Design Council. Drawing
on modern Scandinavian designs, Óbroin used simple
curves and geometric shapes – cylinders, barrels,
cones – in shades of brown, green, blue and pinkishpurple inspired by the Scottish landscape.
Graham Cooley’s donation offered a once-in-alifetime opportunity for community members to get
involved with a significant museum acquisition.
Former Caithness glass designer Helen MacDonald
gave participants a connoisseur’s tour of the glass
displays in Perth Museum and Art Gallery. They also
explored the curatorial and storage areas, where
they were able to examine and handle pieces in the
Graham Cooley Collection and listen to museum staff
sharing trade secrets.
10
Schools and community
groups exchange knowledge
at the Glass Sharing Event
Pupils from Moncreiffe
Primary School interview
glass artist Rachel Elliott
11
I loved the look of all the glass – I really
liked the colours.
Participant, Fairfield Glass Art Project
12
The art of collecting
Maintaining a public glass collection is a painstaking
business. Perth Museum and Art Gallery curators
demonstrated how every newly-acquired object
is recorded in the accessions register, given an
unique number, marked with a special archival pen,
photographed, and documented in minute detail in
the collections database.
Helen MacDonald, who designed for Caithness Glass
for 33 years, shared her inside knowledge of pieces
in the Graham Cooley Collection, explaining the
background to the Loch, Heather and Peat range, the
Starry Night range (based on a painting by Vincent
Van Gogh) and the immensely-popular Rondo range
of the 1990s.
Participants discovered the creative inspiration
behind individual pieces of glass, the various
techniques used to make them, and the mixture of
creative freedom and commercial reality involved in
launching a new design. This inspired them with the
desire to create their own glass art.
Knowledgeable, enthusiastic specialists
delivered exciting learning experiences.
Teacher, Alyth Primary School
I remember having a piece of glass at
home, I thought it could be Caithness
glass, I was really excited to get home
and check, it was Caithness and even
more amazing is that it is a piece of
Helens work, I can’t wait to see her and
let her know. I can’t believe that I have
a piece of Helens work in my house.
Susan, Member of Fairfield Glass Group
13
The Art of Collecting –
Alyth Primary School
14
Exploring the glass collections at
Perth Museum and Art Gallery
How are paperweights made?
Moncreiffe Primary School pupils
discover the secrets
15
Investigating the history of
Perthshire paperweights at
Errol Primary School
16
Understanding Glass: a hands-on approach
Participants explored the physical properties of
glass in all sorts of ways. Some investigated its
advantages as a recyclable material. Others watched
the production process at the Caithness Glass factory
in Crieff. One group made a xylophone by filling a row
of bottles with different amounts of water, allowing
them to explore tone and pitch.
Many chose to make their own pieces of glass art and
were supported by specialists to explore traditional
paperweight-making techniques, modern glassslumping and screen-printing processes, and ways of
making sculptures from pieces of found glass.
Glass artists Rachel Bower and Carole Robinson
shared the skills required in glass fusing techniques.
Like the Caithness designers, participants took
inspiration from the Scottish landscape and the
changing colours of local hills. They made some
stunning fused-glass tiles, and acquired a whole new
technical vocabulary: full firing, ghost firing, tack fuse
firing, stringers, frits, confetti, mica powder, slumping
and leaf shadowing.
Artist Rachel Elliott showed participants how to
create glass art using the screen-printing techniques
employed in her glass piece Glare which is on
permanent display in Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Some went on to use this technique to capture the
story of glass.
I learned a fantastic technique of
fusing glass. Getting to make my
own piece was exciting!
Member of Culture Club
17
Inspired by our local landscape –
Blairgowrie High School
18
Our landscape as we see it
Kinross High School
19
Creative ways with recycled glass
Alyth Primary School
Alyth Primary School pupils explore glass and sound
20
Inspired by our local landscape Alyth Primary and Blairgowrie High School
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Discovering glass printing techniques with Rachel Elliot
Braco Primary School
22
Learning from the experts –
making paperweights at Caithness Glass, Crieff
23
The blast of heat when you walk in the door!
I’m amazed they can sit in it all day. And the
speed at which they work!
Fairfield Glass Participant
24
It was amazing we got to feel the heat from
the glass and feel how heavy the iron was.
Pupil, Braco Primary School
25
Learning glass fusing techniques
at St Dominic’s RC Primary School
26
Young people from Alyth Primary School
capture the glass stories of glass designer
Alastair MacIntosh
27
Perthshire glassmakers in their own words
Past and present glassmakers shared their stories with
participants of all ages to preserve an oral history of
local glassmaking.
Young people were trained in digital recording
techniques by a local radio presenter, while a
journalist shared the tricks of the interviewer’s
trade. Participants then put these new skills to use,
questioning glass artists, designers, paperweight
makers, industrial glassmakers, and employees of
Caithness Glass.
Interviewees retrieved a spellbinding range of
memories. Working in intense heat from furnaces so
loud they damaged hearing. Skilled craftsmen who
could make a glass horse in 60 seconds. The lossmaking light globes the Vasart factory made for 10
Downing Street. A moment’s clumsiness that ruined
a £3,000 glass vase. Alcohol-fuelled punch-ups at the
end of the working week.
Some were old enough to recall John Moncrieff’s
Monax factory (now replaced by an electrical goods
store) and the short-tempered, extraordinarilytalented creator of Monart art glass, Salvador Ysart.
Copies of these digital recordings will be kept in the
city’s archives and local libraries.
My dad used to come home absolutely worn
out after a long shift in front of that furnace.
He’d have towels wrapped round his neck
to soak up the sweat. He took salt tablets to
replace the salt, it was like drinking the North
Sea. His skin was like leather from doing the
marvering. The cracks in his hands were that
big he used to stand coins up in them.
Mel Clark
former glassmaker at Perth’s Monax glassworks
28
Sharing the Glass Heritage of Perth: the legacy
A permanent archive of oral history about local
glassmaking is just one of the project’s lasting
benefits.
On a chilly Friday in December 2013 young people
and adults gathered at Perth Museum and Art Gallery
to share the wealth of new skills and knowledge they
had gained during the project.
A huge range of topics were covered in their
presentations. These included Perth Museum and Art
Gallery’s glass collection; paperweight maker David
Moir’s apprenticeship and long career; working with
fused glass; making music with glass; the benefits of
glass recycling; and the glass mini-museum created in
one primary school to showcase pupils’ learning.
Not only were participants more knowledgeable
about Perth’s glassmaking history and equipped with
new skills, they felt more at home in Perth Museum
and Art Gallery and said they would be coming back.
Feedback from adults taking part showed the
experience had contributed to their personal
development more generally. Members of the two
mental health groups said they were more confident
about venturing out elsewhere in the city centre. They
felt a new pride in Perth, and in themselves as citizens
and heirs to this rich heritage.
I’ve loved using all these different art skills.
It’s been an amazing experience.
Pupil, Blairgowrie High School
29
St Dominic’s pupils and Helen Macdonald
after their public talk Meet the Maker in Crieff
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Did you know?
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The first glass was made was in the Middle East,
where Iran is now, 4,000 years ago.
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Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to
power a computer for 25 minutes.
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The first coloured glass was made by the Egyptians.
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Monart art glass combined the glassmaking genius
of Salvador Ysart and the design skills of Isabel
Moncrieff, the boss’s wife.
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Despite its enduring popularity, Monart was only
ever a sideline of the North British Glassworks.
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Vasart art glass takes its name from the initials of
Vincent, Augustine and Salvador Ysart (V. A. S. art)
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Limited-edition paperweights made in Perthshire
sell for hundreds of pounds on the international
market.
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Glass fuses at 840 degrees centigrade.
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Glass can be recycled indefinitely as its structure
does not deteriorate when reprocessed.
32
Community participants at a glass
celebration event held at Fairfield
Neighbourhood Centre, Perth
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Acknowledgements
With thanks to:
Project participants:
The Heritage Lottery Fund
Blairgowrie, Kinross, and Perth High Schools; Alyth,
Braco, Dunbarney, Errol, Inch View, Moncrieffe, and St
Dominic’s Primary Schools; Fairfield Glass Art Project;
Perth Creative Community Collaborative; Culture
Club; Simply Inspired; Perth & Kinross Community
Learning and Development staff; Perth Museum
and Art Gallery; Caithness Glass, Bruce Patterson
Heartland FM, Journalist Ajay Close.
Gannochy Trust
All the glass specialists who shared their expertise
and stories:
Helen MacDonald, Alastair MacIntosh, Rachel Bower,
Carole Robinson, Rachel Elliott, Sandra Martin, Maria
Devaney, Martin Campbell, Enid Clark, Mel Clark,
Callum McDougall , Dave Moir, Scott Sinclair.
(PKC Design Team 2014021)