ED’S CRACK – Editorial in Journal of British Society of Scientific Glassblowers

My first Editorial for 2021 and seemed to be longer than normal. I am just writing my next Editorial to be published in April 2021. Obviously writing a blog requires me to be more productive than just thinking about doing something as I really have to get off my backside and put pen to paper!!!!!

Who am I? Sounds like a lyric from a musical but I pose the question not because I want to be miserable but to illustrate my biggest dilemma of 2020. Like many of us I lost motivation through not being able to do what I thought was meaningful to me, and thus made me the person I am or at least was. I was proud to say that I am or was a Beaver Scout Leader but when there were no Beaver meetings I ceased to function in that area. Then with no exhibitions my effectiveness as Chair of a local art society diminished to the point that I felt invisible. Added to this the lack of customer base for my glass artwork drove me close to the edge of despair. I could not even teach my passion of lampworking! Living in a town where it seems everyone knows everyone, then this on the surface can give comfort. Not for me though as not being “local” I have no family connections. Hence people know or knew and refer to me by what I am or do rather than who is my grandfather or who my second cousin’s neighbour’s dog walker is! Hence without my Scout activities, without my art responsibilities and without my glass creations then I became a nobody!

Tough times require tough responses and are meant to bring out the best in people. I tried to follow this mantra when, first my workshop floor collapsed, then the ceiling fell in. I thought I was coping quite well until the electricity seem to disappear up its own switch box prompting a blown fuse in my head. Every time I entered my workshop, I feared what to expect next. The water dripping through the roof came just close enough to the electric wiring to cause terror with me every time I switched on the lights. I knew I needed to face my fears and acknowledge my limitations. I may be quite good at working with glass but a failure at everything else. Hence my glass skills have become my most important characteristic during the recent months. In truth I think a sense of resilience was key as I am sure others in my position would have given up ages ago. Maybe I am just thick, stupid and stubborn or could it be I am passionate, dedicated and not living in the real World. So just like us all then!

I recently joined the Contemporary Glass Society and thought I would show willing by entering one of their online exhibitions. The challenge for me was not to create a piece of glass art that was worthy of being admired by so called “real” artists but to upload an image through the CGS website. I am not completely dumb when it comes to computer operations but recognise a lot of faults with IT can be traced to lack of human communication. Thankfully, I could easily sort things out through Facebook, and I was pleasantly surprised not only to see my work included but also to learn that it had been sold. I admit the latter fact was emailed to me. So, it appears a simple process relies on at least three forms of communication. It is a bit like reading this Journal in three languages. Ed’s Crack will now be published in French, our Chairman’s message will appear in German and my book reviews will be in Dutch. Some might say my editorials are also in Dutch but double Dutch!

One intriguing meeting organised by the CGS was titled ““How a Studio Influences your Work” and if I were a “zoom” aware person then I would have gladly joined in. I mean to say I have many years of trying to create art from chaos! As mentioned earlier my workshop (I used to call it a studio once, years ago) is probably ideal for a film set acting like a war zone or major disaster. Funny thing is though I do not exactly know how my environment influences what I make. A visiting electrician who was too scared to venture in my sanctuary told me that I deserve better than this. A passer-by said to be as he saw me carry out through the broken door my latest masterpiece that he was amazed that something so wonderful could be made from what looked like a derelict building. Perhaps I too looked a bit derelict and of no fixed abode!

Enough of others lets focus on the BSSG and more specifically, scientific glassblowing and more important you the scientific glassblower. Perhaps you are not because you have retired and are reading this because you have nothing else today. Maybe you feel you have moved on and are now excitedly active with lampworked art yest still using scientific glass working tools. There is a group on a social media platform called “Nortel Remix Mafia” with over 1000 members so slightly more than the BSSG! From what I see this group focuses on burner design rather then what can be done with, what seems like a metallic fire breathing dragon with more knobs than a wayward government! I mean to say would we judge Constable’s artistic merits with reference to his type of paint brush?

It’s great to see Phil Murray back on the burner. Readers should remember Phil as being featured in several issues of the BSSG Journal for receiving a travelling sponsorship from the Winston Churchill Foundation. Phil has his own business named Manchester Glass works which is logical as that is where he lives. Steph Kubler, another BSSG member lives nearby and calls her business Mersey Glass Works. I don’t live in the area and call my business Glass Creations. The theory is that if I ever moved to Manchester, (I did live there once) then my business name would not seem out of place. It’s hard to imagine shopping local in Aberdeen or Cardiff at a store with a Manchester reference in its title! Of course, if all the business is traded online it doesn’t matter where a business is based. I launched my own website last summer https://glasscreationsirp.co.uk/ which incorporated a blog. I didn’t know what a blog was until I was advised that keep a website active for visitors does involve a certain amount of effort in updating every so often which in my case varied once every five minutes to once a month. I realise that instead of rambling on and on as I do in this Editorial then I could do just the same on my blog. Trouble is no one will read such things without being prompted and hence I must keep adding stories on my social media pages.

The most important time of the day to me is the ten-minute walk to my workshop. This is when and where I decide what wonderful glass art I am going to make. It is also the moment when I decide whether to keep walking on and on past my workshop to the beach or tun left and open the door to turn my burner on. It is when I reassure myself as to who I am. I am of course Ian Robert Pearson, nothing more, nothing less.