Anthony de Jong Cleyndert, Hannah Facey
Elena Fleury-Rojo, Joseph Harrington
Marie Worre Hastrup Holm, Abu Jafar
Peter Layton, Bruce Marks, Laura McKinley
Karen Murphy, Layne Rowe, Anthony Scala
Cathryn Shilling, Louis Thompson,
Pia Zocca & Ewa Wawrzyniak.

Becoming an annual event, this will be the third glass exhibition at The Gallery. Translucent and colourful, glass is a material which is seductive and appealing and has become one of the most popular art forms here. In the last few years many artists have chosen this medium to express their ideas, creating objects which can be either functional or purely decorative, exploiting the versatility, plasticity and sheer beauty of glass.

Glasshaus III will again include several colleagues from Peter Layton's London Glassblowing Workshop, a hot glass studio focused on the creation and display of contemporary glass art. The studio has a reputation as one of Europe's leading glassmaking workshops with a particular flair for the use of colour, form and texture.

Peter Layton produces individual pieces of decorative glass in sculptural and functional forms. The work is free blown, permitting a greater degree of involvement and attention to detail than is possible on standardised production and ensuring the individuality of each piece. It is the studio's philosophy that each object should be unique and signed by the artist.

A great advocate of collaborative working, Peter Layton has over the years acted as a mentor, training and cooperating with many glassmakers, enjoying their creative and artistic involvement within the studio. Each glassmaker brings an appealing freshness to the workshop environment and a particular artistic sensibility to the work. Many have set up their own workshops and become established glassmakers in their own right.

London Glassblowing has played a major role in the development of studio glass in the UK, leading the change from factory dominated production to individually created glass by artists and craftsmen.

All members of London Glassblowing produce their own, work in a variety of techniques and styles. The studios current glassmaking team includes Layne Rowe, Anthony Scala, Louis Thompson, Bruce Marks and Marie Worre Hastrup Holm.

In Glasshaus III these artists will be joined by our home team, Karen Murphy and Ewa Wawrzyniak, who share a studio in the mill. Others new to Glasshaus contribute stained and painted glass, functional glasses, sand cast glass, wall panels and sculptural pieces for out of doors. There will be one of these installed in the millrace!

Glasshaus III and The River Stort Sculpture Trail

This exhibition coincides with the opening of The River Stort Sculpture Trail which celebrates our heritage of the waterway by siting a piece of sculpture at each of the four locks in Harlow. Each sculptural piece has historic reference to its location.

In addition a raised walkway crosses the weir at Parndon Mill. This beautiful structure is a collaboration between two artists who have studios at the Mill - Alan Freeman, metalworker and Karen Murphy, glass artist. Karen states "I create site specific work that is inspired by its environment. In this case, each glass element was cast from specific items that were found in the vicinity of the bridge; including both natural flora as well as manmade objects that relate to the mill and the lock." The crafts of metalwork and cast glass perfectly complement each other creating a work of art which is both a pleasure to look at and to use.

This project has been realised through a central government regeneration initiative. Managed by Harlow Council Arts Development this scheme has involved a range of partners including British Waterways, Groundworks and Parndon Mill.