Exhibitions | KayBee Glass

Mortal and Strong

kaybeedigital — Mon, 12 May 2025 22:49:13 +0000

Mortal and Strong - Scars of Gold

100 women (the Voices) living with incurable or life-changing conditions
100 scars of gold photographs based on the Japanese art of Kintsugi
100 artworks by 34 artists

All taking pride of place during a week-long event at the Sidings at London’s Waterloo until 17th May 2025. I applied to be one of the artists and was delighted to be chosen.

Two special voices

I was paired up with two ‘voices’. First, Melissa, who is living with Type-1 diabetes. This was close to my heart as my dad had lived with T1D from a young age. Although his diabetes was well managed (my mum being a trained dietitian helped with diet adjustments, and his own medical training meant he understood the physiology), his eyesight and kidneys were affected and sadly he died before the age of 40. Monitoring and treatment have advanced significantly since then, with some improvements in life expectancy but it requires constant vigilance, and people living with T1D have to make so many adjustments and compromises every day.

Second, Mev. I didn’t know a lot about Mev other than she had initially been diagnosed with endometrial cancer at the age of 31. Her story is one of medical challenges and resilience, of knowing your own body and of not being afraid to make your voice heard. If you get a chance to listen to her podcast episode, please do.

Two stained glass portraits

The brief was to create an artwork to represent one of the women. Sammy had created an incredible series of photographs, ‘Scars of Gold’, using gold leaf to create a kintsugi (“joining with gold”) effect on the area of the body affected by the health condition. For Melissa, the gold wasn’t concentrated in one area. A glucose monitor and insulin pump are a permanent feature, and diabetes can affect many areas of the body – internal and external. For Mev, her hands covering her abdomen were the focus for the kintsugi. Her photograph showed her in a bold silhouette, her trademark hair so distinctive despite the effects of treatment.

I knew I wanted to make these pieces large. Mortal and Strong is all about voices and awareness and I didn’t think small, delicate pieces would suit the message. I started out with a plan to create Mel 1m x 75cm but this was going to be impractical. I couldn’t find a surface big enough to support such a large piece, so I reduced the proportions to 75cm x 51cm. I used Sammy’s Scars of Gold photographs as my inspiration as they are just so striking. This dictated my colour choices… black, grey and gold.

The puppy and the bubble wrap

I had to order lots and lots of glass…. four huge boxes arrived. Each box was filled with large sheets of glass wrapped in cardboard and oversized bubble wrap. Cue my new puppy who became adept at bursting the bubble wrap so it would fit in the recycling box. I took over the top of the dog cage and used offcuts of MDF to create a base. I measured out a frame to keep my sizing in check and began the long process of cutting, grinding, foiling and soldering.

I did think about using gold leaf on the glass and I had just completed a gilding course so I had all the kit. But when I tried it on Mel’s portrait, it didn’t look right on the glass; it was too subtle. After much trial and error (black glass on the back… clear glass…textured glass…I decided to use Amber Muranese glass to represent the gold instead. It has a beautiful flower pattern and is a delicate colour that looks incredible in the light. Mel’s piece had a lot of black and I used oceanside black opaque with grey behind it so that the silhouette would really stand out. As you can’t see through black glass, you can’t just trace your pattern on the glass directly. Instead, I printed out the pieces on vinyl. My Cricut machine only allows a max size of 27cm so I had to slice up the pattern into multiple pieces to print then stick together. This took way longer than it should have!

Hands!

Mev’s portrait came with a different challenge; hands! Stained glass hands are difficult. Take a look at your local church windows and you’ll see figures with hands hidden by sleeves or obscured by strategically placed sheep. The hands you do see are painted. I didn’t want to use paint because Mev’s hands had gold leaf on them so I wouldn’t be able to get much detail. I mocked up a couple of drawings using Glasseye 2000 and the hands either looked like skeleton hands or like they had been lifted from The Simpsons; I couldn’t use either. A conversation with my partner came up with the idea of an ethereal shape across the abdomen. As soon as I drew it, it looked right. Her Scars of Gold photograph had the lighter colours around the edge and the solid black for the body so the colouring was going to be the opposite of the first piece.

Both pieces are framed with zinc. This gives them strength. I was a bit worried about internal strength before I started considering the size of the pieces, and I considered adding copper restrip. This is a thin strip of copper that can be slotted between the glass pieces before it’s soldered together to give it additional strength. However, I made sure the designs had lots of curves and I was generous with the solder, both of which make sure they aren’t going to collapse inwards.

They were too big to sit on stands so I had to add wire for hanging. I twisted two strands of copper wire together so the weight wouldn’t be a problem and it would still be flexible enough to adjust to hang on a single nail or two nails. I soldered a good few inches of wire onto the zinc to make sure it would hold the weight without budging.

Edinburgh to Norfolk to London

Then the issue of transport… they had to be delivered to Norfolk a couple of weeks before they were being taken to London with the rest of the artworks. I thought about driving them myself (I live near Edinburgh), and my partner offered to take them for me. But it would be a 7-hour drive each way so this was a bit impractical. I found an artwork courier company who would collect, pack and deliver them, with insurance. I won’t divulge how much I paid for this, but it’s £10 short of what my first car cost…

Then I didn’t hear from the courier company for days…and days… and the deadline for them arriving in Norfolk came and went. Oh, the stress. Easter weekend had intervened so the phone wasn’t answered and my emails were ignored. Fast forward to the next week and they arrived safely, packaged securely… phew.

The Mortal and Strong Exhibition

The exhibition is being held at the Sidings Waterloo between 9th and 17th May 2025. Find out more here → THE EVENT | Mortal And Strong There are health talks every day and a silent auction for the artworks with proceeds going to the Mortal and Strong charity.

I’m going to be there with my mum on the final day and can’t wait to see 100 artworks and the 100 photographs exhibited. I’ve already reserved my copy of the coffee table book :). My two stained glass portraits are called The Light Within I (Mel) and The Light Within II (Mev). I can’t wait to see them on display with the other artworks.

Look at the artworks and bid away. They raised over £10,000 in the first four days! Scars of Gold artworks auction

Please check it out, listen to their podcast, bid for an artwork, make a donation.

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Childhood, Interrupted. First exhibition of 2025.

kaybeedigital — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 21:03:23 +0000

Childhood, Interrupted exhibition at The House of Smalls, Edinburgh 30 Jan to 01 Mar 2025

Childhood, Interrupted - Exhibition at The House of Smalls Art Gallery in Edinburgh

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) is the first part of of 7 published autobiographies telling the story of Maya Angelou’s life. She survived trauma, assault and racism and a pretty turbulent childhood. Despite this, hope and resilience shines through.

There are different editions of the book and I used the covers of two of them for the imagery in this stained glass hanging. In one, a young black girl looks to the sky and in the other a blackbird soars above the sun.

This has been made using the copper foil technique and has a hand painted panel with “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”. I think this quote sums up the book perfectly.

It’s framed with zinc and since the photo was taken I’ve used black patina on the frame and solder lines, which I think gives it a more authentic feel.

Do pop along to the exhibition if you are in Edinburgh during February.

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Why do people hate moths?

kaybeedigital — Thu, 25 May 2023 12:09:41 +0000

Why do people hate moths?

Did you know many of the very old stained glass windows are painted? Today we can buy a huge variety of colours and textures of glass negating the need to use traditional painting methods such as scraffito where layers are scratched off to reveal colours underneath.

Many glass painting methods need a large kiln to fire the paints at high temperatures to make each layer permanent. I don’t have a large kiln, so I used a combination of Pebeo Vitrea 160 and Folk Art enamels to create the butterfly and moth. Paint was applied with brushes, cocktail sticks and a little metal stick thing that probably has a name but I don’t know it. Each layer was left to dry for 24 hours then the final design was baked at 160 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes.

One of my favourite pieces of art is M.C. Escher’s “Butterflies” and I have an extract tattooed on my arm. The tattoo artist told me that they are in fact moths – you can tell by looking at the feathered antennae. I wanted to incorporate the butterfly and moth into matching but different corner pieces. The insect colour dictated the glass choices and I created swirly leaf shapes just because this felt like the right shapes to use.

The moth is surrounded by very beautiful Van Gogh glass which looks like engraved silver ferns. It’s fragile to work with as vigorous grinding can wear away the patterned surface. The butterfly uses more autumnal colours.

Both are partially framed with zinc came. I prefer this to lead but you can’t just use a lead knife to cut it. It has a channel inside to fit the glass so you have to saw through four layers and need a multitool or hacksaw. Create 45 degree angles so the corners fit together and cut away a little piece to accommodate the hanging wire. I fed the ends right down into the zinc so they could be soldered in place and won’t come out when the piece is hanging.

These two were exhibited at the Artizan Gallery in Torquay, England in late 2022/early 2023 in the Contemporary Glass Society’s Glorious Glass exhibition.

What do you think of using paint in this way? Let me know in the comments.

PS Now they are back in Scotland and are for sale. Contact me for details.

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Exhibitions; Razzle Dazzle and Whispers

kaybeedigital — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:50:39 +0000

Exhibitions!

The world of art exhibitions is new and unfamiliar to me, but if you are looking to buy stained glass, an exhibition would be a great place to start! I was pleased to exhibit my stained glass Amanda Gorman at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds earlier this year as part of the Contemporary Glass Society’s Joy of Glass exhibition. This was my first in-person exhibit, and my partner and my mum endured the 5 hour journey from Edinburgh with me to deliver to and view the exhibition.

“Razzle Dazzle 5 x 5” at the Pyramid Gallery, York

The Pyramid Gallery is showing some fantastic pieces by glass artists in an exhibition called “Bedazzled”, showing the best of modern glass art. Alongside it is displaying some glass pieces that are all 5″ by 5″ in size and all between £100 and £300. You can watch a virtual tour here (opens in new tab) https://youtu.be/AAl25McjU0w The theme was entertainment and my piece is a tribute to the Abba Voyage show that opened in London recently. I’ve called it “Abba: Voyage into Glass”:-

ABBA: Voyage Into Glass

With the original image

Stories – Whispers from the Past and Present on tour

The Contemporary Glass Society, the Scottish Glass Society and the Glass Society of Ireland have opened a joint exhibition at the Trades House of Glasgow. This will be open from 14th to 22nd September and it will then travel to the Wasps Creative Academy in Inverness from 4th to 29th October 2022. It must be fate… my dad’s family is from Glasgow and my mum went to school where the Wasps Creative Academy now stands!

“What you see today is an array of exemplary exhibits from 50 artists that show the diversity of contemporary glass in all its glory” (Catherine Lowe, Chair of the Scottish Glass Society and Sue Purser-Hope, Chair of the Contemporary Glass Society)

The theme for the exhibition is inspired by Scotland’s 2022 Year of Stories. Two of my stained glass pieces have been selected – Katherine Casse – Witch? and Issobell Fergussonne – Witch? These women were tried as witches in the 1600s, based on questionable ‘evidence’. Their portraits have been painted on the outside of the library in Dalkeith, which was known as “a town where all witches were burnt”. This inspired my ‘witches’ who are both on display and for sale. Read about Scotland’s formal apology to the women and men accused of witchcraft https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-60667533

The exhibition also features the Keep Well Glass Quilt Project, a collaboration between 50 glass artists from Northern Ireland – well worth a look!

I’m going to be stewarding at the exhibition next week, so I’m looking forward to seeing all of the pieces on display. Glass is surprisingly difficult to photograph so it’s always worth seeing it in person if you can.

Karen

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Exhibition time!

kaybeedigital — Mon, 16 May 2022 12:45:12 +0000

My Amanda Gorman stained glass picture is exhibited at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds from 23 April to 04 June 2022. I was delighted to have been selected as one of 25 glass artists to exhibit as part of the Contemporary Glass Society’s 25th Anniversary Joy of Glass Showcase. Even more exciting is that this exhibition is one of the International Year of Glass (2022) events.

The Society approached us last year to collaborate with them for a very special showcase where The Craft Centre and Design Gallery would curate 25 makers for a two-part celebration of glass by some of the most renowned glass makers based in the UK and beyond. As it’s a very special anniversary for us this year and the International Year of Glass, we jumped at the chance of this fantastic opportunity to bring some outstanding glass to the city of Leeds, and to give it the spotlight it so rightly deserves.
https://www.craftcentreleeds.co.uk/contemporaryglasssocietyshowcasethejoyofglass

This stained glass design was based on Amanda’s recital of her ‘The Hill We Climb’ poem at Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony in January 2021. This stained glass hanging captures the colours and shapes of that day in the sunshine.

Her work has themes of marginalisation and oppression, often focussing on feminism and race. Amanda Gorman was included in 2021’s Time Magazines Time100 Next list.Based on my own drawing that you can see by scrolling through the images, this hanging has been made using the tiffany (copper foil) technique and is framed in zinc with hanging loops. It’s 32 x 21cm.

Hanging at a window brings out the best of the glass (particularly the amber sunshine) but it also looks good on a wall, emphasising the face and hair which are opaque glass.

You can see some a lovely virtual tour of the showcase in the YouTube video below or take a look at my shop and see what’s for sale today.

Amanda Gorman by KayBee Glass
Initial sketch
Close up
Image from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Gorman
Reflections
Amanda Gorman silhouette by KayBee Glass
Amanda Gorman, poet

Take a look at some of my other work in my Gallery page.

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Maya Angelou panel

kaybeedigital — Thu, 12 May 2022 13:14:53 +0000

Maya Angelou’s autobiograhical “I know why the caged bird sings” was published in 1969 and I used images from Random House’s first edition along with a quote from the book to create this zinc-framed stained glass hanging with a beautiful wispy amber glass. Progress pictures below from initial sketch to cutting, to copper foiling each piece to soldering and framing. Let me know what you think in the comments.

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