Perth Art Gallery invites you to explore GLASS (UK)

Perth Art Gallery invites you to explore GLASS, an exhibition celebrating the material and the makers who helped make Perthshire famous—from Monart to Caithness to Perthshire Paperweights. GLASS will take visitors on a journey through thousands of years of glassmaking, from ancient Syria to the workshops of nineteenth-century Venice, to the masters of glass production across Perth and Kinross. Discover the history, creativity, and beauty of this versatile material, which has played a key role in establishing Perth as the UK’s first UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art.

As part of this celebration, renowned glass artist Jane Drysdale will be featured at the event. This article will give you a deeper look into her story, her craft, and her journey as a maker.

This is glass as you’ve never seen it before.

One of the Perthshire Artisans, Jane Drysdale of Barkley Glass is one of the many craftspeople that have allowed Perth to gain its status as a UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Arts. This article in We Are Makers was sponsored by Perth UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Arts, supported by Perthshire Artisans, and comes from a conversation Jane Drysdale of Barkley Glass had with Caron Ironside from Perthshire Artisans and Poppy Jarratt from Perth UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Arts. 

A chance encounter via a dating agency led Jane Drysdale, not only to love, but also to uncover a life passion. Falling in love proved to be the gateway to glassmaking and a passion that has transformed her life

Like so many, I’d been put off being creative.
I was told I couldn’t do art at school because I wasn’t ‘artistic,’ whatever that means. But that all changed at my daughter’s birthday party. I was cutting a sweetie mountain cake when I got a call from a man who’d gotten my number through a dating agency. I was a single mum of three working as a social worker in Fife, Scotland, and I told this man ‘I can’t speak now, I’m cutting a sweetie mountain cake!’ and he rather liked that, and me… I did give him a piece of cake. That man was the managing director of Perthshire Paperweight Company, among other things.

I spent hours watching glassmakers.
Known for their limited editions of crown paperweights, close packed paperweights and spaced paperweights on latticinio backgrounds, Perthshire Paperweights are still prized by glass collectors today, over 20 years since production ended. Neil – the man who called me – and who I started dating, invited me to come and live with him in Crieff. I resisted at first because of my career, but I ended up able to use the skills I learnt as a social worker to help manage the workforce, so I helped out and did my bit. Mainly I got to see how everything was made – all the processes and the intricacy that went into creating details in the glass. 

Finally, I decided I would have a go at making some glass myself.
I went with Neil on a sales trip to America where we visited the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. I loved it, especially the work by Paul Stankard which amazed me. The work I saw on that trip stayed in my head.

I started with stained glass.
I couldn’t cut glass for toffee, I just couldn’t do it. I went to a couple of sessions of an evening class at Perth College and was raring to get going. I quickly got bored of the stained glass, as I wanted to heat it up, to experiment with it and find out what happens when you do different things to it. I bought a tonne of books. My first one was The Fused Glass Handbook by Gil Reynolds, and I had a go at making some fused glass.

I remember the first time somebody bought something I made.
It was a really basic, fused glass piece I’d learnt how to make from the handbook, and that was it. Neil passed away in 2001. At that time, I was running a craft shop in our small Perthshire village and experimenting with glass. I learned what would sell, developed a trade range, and now have customers who have been returning for over 20 years to purchase my fused glass pieces. Making these proven sellers allows me the time to explore and play with other processes and techniques in glassmaking.

What keeps me going is the idea that I can always learn something new.
I’ve learnt so much over the years, I’m experimenting at the moment with pate de verre processes which I’m really enjoying. Generally, I use both clear and coloured glass, glass powders, frits and enamels, often with metallic or dichroic inclusions to produce distinctive objects which can be functional or purely decorative.

Working within the area of Perth, the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art is rather lovely. 

For the number and variety of makers, artists, artisans, and whatever else we choose to call ourselves, to be recognised really is wonderful. Many crafters work in isolation, so having a community to engage with and share ideas, alongside receiving business support and opportunities, is invaluable. Having a platform to showcase our work is brilliant as well.

I call myself a maker. 
I make glass, I make things from glass. I’m not finished exploring what glass, this amazing and beautiful stuff, can do. I’m happy making glass, it’s my happy place. 

@barkleyglass2202

barkleyglass.co.uk

Perth, Scotland was designated as a UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Arts in 2021. Medieval Perth was a centre of craft production and trade and, by the early 1500s, the city was known as a ‘Craftis Toun’. This reputation has stayed with the area throughout the centuries, and today there’s still a thriving and reputable craft sector. 

The activity of the designation is focused on putting Craft and Folk Art at the heart of the city of Perth, and the city area of Perth and Kinross. But it also aims to appeal to national and international visitors, welcoming people from around the world to a beautiful landscape. Perth Artisans want to provide authentic experiences which will help understanding of the importance of Craft and Folk Art to wellbeing, the economy, and make it a key part of the city’s future.

perthshire-artisans.scot

@Perthshireartisans

@perthcityofcraft