The Glass Heart: Art, Industry & Collaboration
The Glass Heart | Two Temple Place
27 January - 21 April 2024
We were honoured to exhibit Peter Layton's archived installation 'Battery' in the highly anticipated 2024 exhibition The Glass Heart. This external showcase hosted at Two Temple Place united over 100 glass artworks spanning 170 years, and included a breathtaking new installation from our own resident artist Louis Thompson in collaboration with Sophie Thomas.
The exhibition highlighted works from the historic industrial glass heartlands of Stourbridge in the Black Country and Sunderland in the North East, alongside the contemporary home of stained glass at The Stained Glass Museum in Ely. In its exploration of narratives central to glass art and manufacturing The Glass Heart celebrated the timeless skills, artistry and innovation required to work with this challenging material.
The exhibition was conceived and curated by curator and writer Antonia Harrison. Antonia Harrison said:
“As a material, glass has a particular vitality. From the molten state of its formation to the reflective and light emitting qualities of its final form, glass retains an amorphic heart. As artist Sam Herman pronounced, Glass is a dance of immediacy’.
These vital qualities lend glass its particular power as an artistic medium – one which reflects, commemorates and illuminates our human condition.”
The Glass Heart is a Two Temple Place exhibition, produced in partnership with National Glass Centre Sunderland, The Stained Glass Museum, Ely and Stourbridge Glass Museum.
Our Stories
Peter and Tim at the annual Glass Art Society Conference
Ahead of their trip to New York for the annual Glass Art Society Conference at the Corning Museum of Glass, Peter and Tim shared an insightful talk with guests at our gallery. In this special preview of the presentation they would go on to deliver at the world-renowned museum, Peter and Tim looked back on more than fifty years of creativity, craftsmanship, and community, sharing personal insights into the studio's evolution while also considering its future. From there, they headed to Corning, New York, for the conference itself!
Our Glass Community Reflect on Peter Layton
To mark fifty years of London Glassblowing, we asked artists, collaborators and friends to share what the studio has meant to them. Their answers span five decades - from first encounters at the hotshop to lifelong friendships. What emerges is a portrait of a community built around one man's vision, and the remarkable things that vision made possible.
Fifty Years of Fire: Celebrating Peter Layton and London Glassblowing
For half a century, London Glassblowing has transformed contemporary glass art - pioneering new techniques, supporting generations of artists, and establishing a studio at the forefront of innovation. This milestone year offers a moment to reflect, to reminisce, and to celebrate the extraordinary impact that has helped shape the world of glass.