5,000 Years of Glass In 3 Hours, comprises three hour-long sessions with appropriate breaks for refreshments and lunch. Employing his distinctively light, humorous and spontaneous approach, Andy guides participants though the ages of glass. He displays the contents of several packing cases full of examples from his 30,000-piece collection and encourages those attending to bring along their own glass possessions for discussion and appraisal.
The separate sessions are:
1: The Introduction:
A: The Dawn of Glass, how it was first made in the Middle
East around 4000BC.
B: How glass has changed the world in architecture,
science, transport, communications, etc.
C: The spread of glass to Venice, then across Europe to
Britain.
2: Georgian & Victorian
Glass:
This session examines the
growth of fine glassmaking across Europe, but most
specifically in Britain, between 1700-1900.
3: 20th Century
Glass:
The 20th century witnessed
the greatest transformation in the role of decorative glass
since it was first formed 6,000 years ago. Historically,
glassware had been the preserve of the wealthy but
industrialisation, improving technologies and the
enrichment of the working classes combined a point where it
was given away free at petrol filling stations. This talk
examines the emergence of new but significant glassmaking
nations and the stylistic development of what was known as
‘fancy glass’ over the course of the 20th century.