Made in the Middle

It’s been a wonderful day in the West Midlands – peerless blue skies, and a feeling that Spring is definitely just around the corner.

While the boyfriend scurried down to London to watch his team, I enjoyed a more laid-back afternoon - taking in an exhibition at the MAC (Midlands Art Centre). Outside, Cannon Hill Park was throng, with lots of people out enjoying the sunshine – and long queues at the ice cream van (remember it’s February!). It was almost a shame to go inside the arts centre.

Made in the Middle doesn’t look jammed with work: it has a simple, clean layout. But it actually manages to pack in work from 35 artists / makers. I had a cake break after my initial look – and when I came back, found work that I hadn’t even seen the first time round! So if you get chance to visit, definitely give yourself a decent chunk of time.

The exhibition is run by Craftspace every three years, and it aims to showcase the best in craft from the Midlands.  It therefore covers all craft disciplines.  I’ll report on my other highlights in a couple of days. But first and foremost, the glass!

There were three glass artists on show: Stuart Akroyd, Charlotte Clark and Vanessa Cutler.

Stuart Akroyd works with hot glass techniques. I regularly see his work in gallery shops – but it tends to be small-scale objects, like perfume bottles.  So this was a great chance to see the larger-scale side of his practice. First up was a wall work, Shoal, where adapted "plate" forms have been grouped against a white background – with the colour and cold working throwing shadow and colour onto the wall.  A great addition to the exhibition was an area where you could pick up and examine elements and materials from people’s work – and a piece from Shoal was included in this section.

Also on display, was a pink and green charger – which was just singing: the lights were casting a beautiful pool of colour onto the plinth beneath, and picking out the patterning.

By contrast, Charlotte Clark’s cast work deserved to be outside in the sunshine. All the pieces showed off great control of texture and colour - but I don’t think the lighting did them justice. Compare my image with those on her website (ok, I know it's not the best snap, but still...) This is often a problem with three-dimensional cast glass in galleries…it cries out for a stronger (dare I say it, natural) light - which might be the ruination of other work. This is definitely a potential problem to ponder for my own work.

Vanessa Cutler’s work, however, was shown to full effect: two pieces exploring creative use of water-jet cutting skills. In these pieces, however, the water-jet has not been used to cut the glass. Instead, it has been used like a needle: to penetrate the surface and into the depth of the glass at points on a regular grid. Each penetration looked like the ghost of a nail. At first glance, you could be turned off: the precision says machine, rather than maker. But for me, there is artistry in those edges: the thick glass chosen gives you an alternative view into the pieces – showing off myriad reflections and repeats which are in stark contrast to the peaceful surface grid pattern.

Well that covers the glass portion of the exhibition - more on my other favourites in a couple of days!