STYLE | Feature
Isle of Wight Museum of Glass
M
ake sure you go upstairs from Isle of Wight Studio Glass to the Isle of Wight Museum of Glass, which houses a collection of over 700 pieces of Tim Harris’s work, and has more than 1,200 pieces of studio glass on show. The museum also hosts work by other Island-based studio glass makers such as Alum Bay Glass, Glory Art Glass, SculptGlass, and others who have come and gone over the years. “We try to collect all of the Island glassmakers and British studio glass,” explains Anton Doroszenko, who opened the museum in January 2016 – the ribbon was cut by Tim Harris and Michael Rayner, and TV presenter Mark Hill gave an introductory talk on ‘Taking Risks’. “It was the first specialty glass museum to be opened in England in 40 years,” adds Anton. The Studio Gallery is full of brightly coloured studio glass pieces in cabinets, ranging from a cabinet of experimental pieces from Mdina Glass in Malta, through the history of Isle of Wight Studio Glass to the present day. The museum even has Tim’s father Michael Harris’s original workbench from Mdina Glass. Other makers featured include Peter Layton, Nick Orsler, Karlin Rushbrooke,
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and Island maker Pippa D’Arcy at Quay Arts. A recent addition is Clare Ralph Leonty’s ‘Lady of Light’ which contains uranium glass that glows under ultraviolet light. The next gallery hosts a collection of British, French, and German Art Deco glass from the 1920s and 30s, with a particular focus on Edmond Etling. This gallery also has a seated area and activities for children, and this space is used for school visits with a huge pulldown screen. Through this gallery is a small shop, with good quality glass objects on sale. There is no entrance fee, but visitors are encouraged to give a donation or to buy items from the shop. The museum has recently launched an outreach programme to take the glass to people who might not visit a museum. Sculptural pieces were recently taken to Sight for Wight, who very much enjoyed the visit. Born in Edinburgh, Anton has more recently lived near Oxford, but is relocating to the Island soon and retiring from his day job as a scientific editor. Anton is of Ukrainian heritage and intends to offer his Oxfordshire home to refugees from Ukraine until he moves here. www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk
