Abstract

The undertaking of a major exhibition at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland in response to the writings and thinking of Bishop Robert Grosseteste occurred through a collaboration with the Ordered Universe Project and the research interests of Colin Rennie and Dr Cate Watkinson. Several new artworks have been created in response to different texts and concepts that have been drawn out of the manuscripts by the Ordered Universe Project team. These ideas were first explored in the ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ project which generated a series of seminars and meetings between the teams at Durham, Oxford and Sunderland. The intention in making the artworks was to give form to these interactions and discussions, reflecting on interpretations to date and to bring a new perspective and material understanding to Grosseteste’s theories.
The creative response started with the premise drawn from Grosseteste’s treatise on colour, De Colore. That is, if colour is light embodied in a diaphanous medium then glass could be used as a metaphor that mediates between light and matter. Through collaborative reading and discussion with the team, the ideas evolved from initial representational approaches to a series of new works that use glass, metal, and digital technologies in tandem to rephrase the ideas in physical form and to open up new dialogues. The resulting works appraise the thinking from individual and collaborative perspectives; a method that Rennie and Watkinson have been successful with in several previous public art projects.
The presentation will open up the artistic process and discuss the making of these new artworks through, integration, collaboration and shared knowledge.