‘Illuminating Colour’ Grosseteste in Glass Part 1

The undertaking of a major exhibition at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland in response to the writings and thinking of Bishop Robert Grosseteste occurred through a collaboration with the Ordered Universe Project and the research interests of Colin Rennie and Dr Cate Watkinson. Several new artworks have been created in response to different texts and concepts that have been drawn out of the manuscripts by the Ordered Universe Project team. These ideas were first explored in the ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ project which generated a series of seminars and meetings between the teams at Durham, Oxford and Sunderland. The intention in making the artworks was to give form to these interactions and discussions, reflecting on interpretations to date and to bring a new perspective and material understanding to Grosseteste’s theories. The creative response started with the premise drawn from Grosseteste’s treatise on colour, De Colore. That is, if colour is light embodied in a diaphanous medium then glass could be used as a metaphor that mediates between light and matter. Through collaborative reading and discussion with the team, the ideas evolved from initial representational approaches to a series of new works that use glass, metal, and digital technologies in tandem to rephrase the ideas in physical form and to open up new dialogues. The resulting works appraise the thinking from individual and collaborative perspectives; a method that Rennie and Watkinson have been successful with in several previous public art projects. The presentation will open up the artistic process and discuss the making of these new artworks through, integration, collaboration and shared knowledge

Invited to chair session and speak as one of a panel of stained glass experts at the conference.

Conference ‘In glass thy story’: a symposium addressing over 70 years of innovation and iconography in the glass art of British and European churches and cathedrals

New Hartley Pit Disaster Memorial Stained Glass Windows

Two stained glass windows were designed for the church of St Alban’s Earsdon telling the story of the pit disaster. The two windows represent the theme of ‘death’ for the left hand window and ‘resurrection’ for the right hand window, the darkness on the one hand and the light on the other.There is much written and recorded from the time and since the pit disaster at New Hartley in 1862 and this wealth of information became the basis of the research for the window

The Ephemeral in Glass Artworks

Transparency and reflection are two fundamental properties of glass and present a wealth of creative potential to the artist and designer. This presentation outlines PhD research that explores these properties, and how they can be manipulated and combined with light to enable ephemeral elements to become an integral part of a glass artwork. These artworks sit predominantly within the field of architectural glass – and are designed to become part of the fabric of a building or urban space. They are created for a particular space, in response to the nature of that space, with the aim of becoming an integral part of an environment, aiding the development of a sense of place for its users. The research explores ways in which architectural glass artworks can combine permanence and physicality with the ephemeral - interacting with transient light and a dynamic environment to embody change and impermanence. Translucent glass acts as a projection screen for shadows, and the reflective glass surface, to a greater or lesser degree, allows the surroundings and people within them to become part of the complex spatial relationships within the artwork. How embodying the ephemeral in artworks can invoke a sense of the ethereal and generate meditative qualities for the viewer also forms part of the research. It will examine the relationships between artwork, environment and the ephemeral in relation to the creation of meditative, spiritual and / or sacred spaces, and wellbeing in general. A survey of new types of glass and coatings on glass being produced for the architectural industry, and in particular how they produce variations in reflectivity and transparency, and the ability to emit light will feed into the research. Documentation of current use of these new types of glass and their application by architects, designers and artists, will place the creation of new artworks in context

Medieval concepts of colour turned into glass artwork in new exhibition

An unlikely combination of artists, medieval historians, philosophers and scientists have converged to create an exhibition of glass artwork

In Vulcan's Forge

Investigations on the correlations between glass and magma involving members of staff from the Glass Department at the University of Sunderland and volcanologists, Dr Fabian Wadsworth and Dr Ed Llewellin from the Natural Sciences Department of Durham University. From a physico-chemical perspective, both magmas and the hot glass manipulated by glass artists are one and the same. The proposed the research question; ‘what lessons can geoscientists learn from knowledge-exchange and experimentation with glass artists?

Urban Landscape Furniture

‘Urban Landscape Furniture’ is designed to bring to our attention what is commonly called ‘street furniture’, encouraging us to think about how we use our cities common ground and to promote dialogue between designated professionals who design and develop our cities public spaces and the public whose benefit these spaces are designed. Richly illustrated with diagrams, hand drawings and sketches as well as photographs of finished pieces in situ, the book intends to give a global perspective, illustrating a large selection of works in public (334) in cities from all over the world. The book shows the designs of urban designers, artists and architects including for example Zaha Hadid. The book illustrates three works by Cate Watkinson, Solar Cell Seat (2010), Baltic Business Quarter seats (2009) and a curved glass and stainless steel seat designed and fabricated in 2007 and situated in front o the Civic Centre in Gateshead

Textile I & II, Curve with Steels. Three glass and steel sculptures.

Watkinson’s practice-led research into surface pattern and the qualities of light and glass working together has required her to explore a range of different techniques including blending illustration and glass together and creating different surface pattern on glass through fusing and water-jet cutting

Solar Cell Seating. A site-specific glass and technology work.

Watkinson’s practice-led research aims to investigate the creation and placing of contemporary glass public art as street furniture, into the city using sustainable materials, whilst also retaining sensitivity to the local environment