We are so close to 5000 signatures! I’d love to hit 5,000 for when I eventually sort out meeting wor Julie (Elliot). I also need you all to put pen to paper and write to or email wor Julie stressing how wrong she is about the will of the people.
Let her know that we love our heritage and all of the wonderful opportunities that the National Glass Centre brings with it! Julie Elliott
Send your post, emails, tweets and calls to wor Julie. Information below:
Telephone 0191 5655327
Email julie.elliott.mp@parliament.uk
Post
Julie Elliott Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central Suite 204 The Place Athenaeum Street Sunderland SR1 1QX
Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023
As the campaign reaches further and further afield, people from all over the world have offered their support.
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
The national glass centre in Sunderland has a global reach. The world of glass artists and artisans is fairly small and well connected. Many have reached out to tell us of their dismay at the peril the National Glass centre’s news of closure and relocation.
There is a lot of unrest and concern surrounding the loss of heritage craft. International researchers who the NGC and the university draw into the city, will no longer have any reason to come here.
Why is this important?
Back in 2011 Creative Cohesion headed a glass exchange program with Washington DC Glass, our sister City. The link between Washington DC and Washington in the North East goes back to the president, George Washington, for whom both were named. In conjunction with creative cohesion and the National Glass Centre lots of local artists benefited from the exchange, and we have kept lasting friendships with our Washington DC colleagues.
Without those organisations, and the magnetic draw of the national glass centre for research, we wouldn’t have had any of the opportunities that we have enjoyed since that program. International trade, introduction to the American market, skills shares, exhibitions, conferences and so much more.
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
Please read Michael Janis’ blog from the time. It has recently passed 11 years since their visit, and it still resonates with everyone who was privileged enough to be involved.
Besides working with the University students and faculty, we also were able to create informal workshops on how technology and social media is changing the art world. These talks were extremely popular – with the standing room only audiences that came from the student body of the University as well as working artists from Sunderland, Newcastle, and as far away as Edinburgh, Scotland. The audience stayed long after the talk, and topics from the discussions continued to come up during our entire Fulbright program stay (and indeed, afterwards via the internet) showing the strong relevance of the concepts.
Since our mission, we were invited to show as artists at galleries in London and at the Sunderland Museum, and we had the Sunderland artists featured in an international exhibit held in Washington, DC the following year.
While our mission as Fulbright Scholars was to impart information, we left having learned many lessons.
Michael Janis, Fulbright Scholarship
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
These artist exchange programs and research fellowships are the life blood of creativity in Sunderland. They are one of the few things that has global reach and appeal. Without this amazing national institution and it’s powerful ethos of exchange and support, how can somewhere like Sunderland truly level up?
We don’t pick and choose our heritage or our culture. It grows as a natural response to our history and how we view our future. Up until last year the National Glass Centre was still being billed as the gem in Sunderland’s crown. There have been many recent project’s highlighting our glass heritage People’s Pyrex, art deco Joblings glass, Love Pyrex. To name just a few.
Michael Janis 2012
Glass is still very much at the heart of Sunderland. We need to work together to make it known that the National glass centre, and all it embodies, is cherished and respected the world over.
To deny public consultation on such important local issues is culturally insensitive at best, and woefully ignorant of the community’s they serve at worse.
Do you have a story about the National Glass centre? We are actively looking for articles to publish on the blog to keep up the momentum we have built so far.
Thank you for reading! Sign our petition. Share far and wide!
A brief history of the National Glass Centre Building
by David Vickery, retired senior planning inspector
The National Glass Centre (NGC) celebrates its 25th anniversary this coming October under threat of closure and likely demolition. It was opened by HRH Prince (now King) Charles in October 1998.
This amazing building lies on the north bank of the River Wear on the former site of the J.L. Thompson and Sons shipyard, facing the mouth of the River Wear and Sunderland’s port. It is close to the site of St. Peter’s Church, built in 674, where Abbott Benedict Biscop instructed French craftsman to glaze its windows, starting Sunderland’s long connection with glass making.
Instax haiku about St Peter’s Church, photo by Jo Howell 2019
In 1994 the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation held an open competition for the design of the NGC, with the objectives of celebrating the heritage of glass making in Sunderland and to support the development of new glass production for the 21st century. This competition, with over 80 entrants, was won by the London architectural practice GolliferAssociates Architects (now Gollifer Langston Architects). Their proposal aimed to make the activities and production going on inside the building visible to visitors.
Front cover of Pyrex magazine, courtesy of Tyne and Wear archive, scanned by Jo Howell
The NGC was the recipient of the first major Arts Lottery Award in the North East. It was also funded by the Arts Council, the University of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, the European Regional Development Fund and Sunderland City Council.
The building was one of the first in Sunderland to mark the beginning of the city’s regeneration, breathing new life into the depressed docklands area.
The complex design incorporates all the various uses into a glass envelope, supported by an exposed steel shell. The industrial finish looked striking and unusual when it opened in 1998, and it still does so today.
The NGC almost looks as if it is leaning towards the water, like a ship being launched. This is because the architects wanted the building to resemble a sea-bound vessel.
The building is built into the slope as the land runs down towards the river, with the public areas located to the south looking onto the riverside. The “back of house” areas are located to the north of the building, built into the slope.
Along the riverside the building has a long length of tall steel and glass walls, with an overhanging glass roof, exposed steelwork and external stairs.This modern, bold design means the NGC is instantly recognisable from the riverside public footpath and from the opposite river bank.
Inside, the high glazed walls and roof, mezzanine, open stairs, exposed steel work and ducts, and a concrete lift shaft give the visiting public a uniquely open, futuristic, brightly lit experience with views through the glazing to the river beyond.
The building looks fantastic when it is lit up at night, with light streaming out through the huge glass walls and roof.
The building was awarded Millennium Product status by the Design Council in recognition of its creativity and innovative environmental approach. It was one of the first buildings in the UK to use an earth tube to bring pre-cooled air into the public areas while the excess heat from the factory was recovered to heat public areas in the winter months.
Detail of Phil Vickery blown glass made in the National Glass Centre hot shop, photo by Jo Howell
It cost £7.2m to build in 1998, and was “revamped” by the University in 2013 at a cost of £2.25m with a new gallery, restaurant, remodelled glass studio and shop.
It is open to the public, and around 230,000 people visit it each year, making it a major cultural venue and visitor attraction in the north-east. So go and see it while you can…
I make ceramics, I’m not awell-knownartist, I don’t sell anything, I don’t make money from it and my careerwasin computing as an I.T. Manager.
Sadly,my ceramics journey started with someone’s death. It wasn’t just anyone’sdeathbut mymother’smy “Mam” as we call them in the North.
In 2001 my Mam suddenly passed away. The shock and loss of a parent is always hard to cope with and I wasn’t doing it very well at allandIwas at a loss at how to stop feeling so sad allofthe time.
My life at that time was basicallygo toworkandsolvecomputerproblems,then come home and just think about missing my Mam. There seemed to be no way out of the sadness I felt. This couldn’t go onandafter a few weeks of this misery I decided something had to be done and I needed to break the cycle.
I thought perhaps an evening class would give me something to occupy my mind. I sawa Ceramics class advertised.Not only had I never done pottery before,but even better the course was free.I went along withsometrepidation, thinking“what have I signed up for?”After all,Iconsidered myselfto be a “techie”rather thanan“artist”.
In the class I was seated with 4 fantastic ladies who were around the same age as my Mam and they laughed and jokedthe whole time. They reminded me so much of my Mam, but in amuchhappier time.
They brought laughter back into my lifeand the sudden realisation that I enjoyed ceramics helped me to cope with grieving for her,byremembering the good times rather than her death. Suddenly life seemed awholelot better.
More importantly,every time I startedmakinga ceramic piece it always remindedme of my Mam.21 years later it still doesand Ihave a hugesmile thinking of her.
After a while I signed up for even more eveningcoursesbut this time at the National Glass Centre. Wow I was so overawed at their facilities and couldn’t believe I was making things there, me a mere hobby potter.
How proud I was that I was not only going to a centre of excellence but even more than that myDadhad been a “Plater” at the very shipyard which was situated on the site of the National Glass Centre. Even he was proud of me, a tough no-nonsense northern shipyard worker was impressed with his son’s creations,
what a surprise in my life.
I evenmanaged toappearin the University’s learning booklet.
The professionalism ofthestaffteaching me,thechance to meet other students at the Glass Centre and being able to see what I could achieve eventually led me to purchase my ownkiln.ContactsImade on the coursesalso led to the purchase of myfirstpottery wheel.
Every time I either make a ceramic piece or look at the many pieces either in my house or the homes of people whohave myart,I think of my Mam. Not with sadness but with ahugesmile andI saythankyou toher.
So,this story isn’t really about me it’s about my Mam, who sadly never got to see any of myceramics or my journey fromanevening classin alittleschool through to thecountry’samazingNational Glass Centre.
The National Glass Centre was key to changing large parts of my life, all linked with someone sadly passing away and enabling others to smile when they receive a piece of my amateurish pottery, who would have thought it!!
My career was in computing, did I like it, well yes but my soul is in ceramics, do I like it, just ask my Mam she knows.
This iswhy all of myceramics are dedicated to her.
#SaveTheNGC #SaveTheNGCA
Do you have a story about the National Glass Centre?
After the stinging news that the National Glass Centre (NGC) is under threat of closure, many people have come forward to share their memories and concerns for the future of glass in the City of Sunderland. Here are my thoughts.
In 2012, I arrived at the NGC to do a Foundation Degree in Art and Design. I made friends and lots of good memories. I went on to do a B.A. (Hons) Illustration and Design, then an M.A. Design (Illustration) on the University of Sunderland’s City Campus. In fact, I returned to the NGC to work with the technicians on some glass sculptures for my final exhibition. In January 2018, I founded Regeneration NE Community Interest Company with my long-term friend, who himself studied Ceramics at the NGC.
In 2019, The Art Studio, a mental health charity in Hendon, closed down due to lack of funding. Having volunteered and worked as a tutor there, regular service-users, who were living with serious mental illness looked to me and Regeneration NE for help. It was the NGC where we would meet up, have a coffee and perhaps do some sketches overlooking the river.
Above: The glass sculpture, Regeneration 2017, created by Gary Nicholson at the NGC.
Among the meeting rooms in the NGC, I attended Artworks-U Networking and Support meetings which gathered local artists to discuss projects, problems, new ideas and potential collaborations. It was a safe place for new graduates like me to watch and learn from more experienced creatives who travelled from across the region to be there. Kids and families often head over to the building to see the exhibitions and amazing glass-blowing demonstrations as an educational and cheap day out. Local artists can also hire the facilities to create and run their businesses. You can even buy affordable and unique glass pieces created by the artists on site.
The NGC is a landmark and a place of education, history, heritage, community and culture. It links modern Creative Industries with the City’s proud industrial past. It has impacted the local economy by attracting students who want to study Glass and Ceramics. In the past 10 years, other universities have dropped Art, Glass and Ceramics courses from their prospectus, (e.g. Falmouth, Kent, Roehampton, Wolverhampton), which makes the dedicated centre for the tuition of Glass and Ceramics all-the-more precious at a national level.
It’s true, sentimentality won’t pay the NGC bills. However, the same Sunderland people had the self-belief, business and creative expertise to be shortlisted for City of Culture 2021. Regeneration NE urges them to now work on saving the NGC. It will be a logistical and safety nightmare to squeeze everything into shared spaces in the City Centre. It would be just plain wrong to let it slip away without a fight.
Save the National Glass Centre 