A glass act

SUNK into the quayside at the mouth of the River Wear is a huge glass cube that will be familiar to locals as the National Glass Centre.

If you’re not from Sunderland, however, you’re unlikely to recognise it because, until now, the centre has never really fulfilled its potential in attracting visitors or putting on exhibitions.

But, thanks to a £2.3m refurbishment, it will reopen its doors on July 29 with hopes of pulling in 200,000 visitors a year and, according to the vision of its director, James Bustard, will develop a reputation which stretches across the North-East, to England and the rest of the world.

Glassmaking has been around in Sunderland since 674AD, when workers from the city created England’s first stained glass window, which was fitted into the neighbouring St Peter’s Church.

The new permanent exhibition on the first floor, which includes interactive displays and personal stories, charts the progress of glassware in Sunderland, from its Roman inception, through its middle age as beautifully-engraved plates, bowls, and bottles, to its modern day use as a medium for art and sculpture.

In the Long Gallery opposite this display is the centre’s first visiting exhibit, a retrospective of one of the founding members of glass art, Erwin Eisch.

He is a German who uses glass moulds and paint to reimagine everyday objects, create human busts and abstract sculptures, and is credited with inspiring the first US glass artists. It is the first time his art has been exhibited on this scale anywhere in the world.

In the cases set into the outside of the gallery walls are delicate sculptures of nerve cells, viruses and bacterium made at the centre by Luke Jerram. He’s also responsible for the 20ft long chandelier that hangs over the first floor balcony and down into the gift shop below.

Alongside the gift shop on the ground floor is the Brasserie, which will open on July 1 and aims to be one of the top restaurants in the North-East in its own right, serving traditional food with a modern twist, made from local ingredients.

Behind the gift shop, underneath the first floor galleries, are the hot and cold glass workshops, where visitors can watch free glassmaking demonstrations, or pay to create their own pieces either as a group or during one-onone tuitions.

Further back are the classrooms, where 100 students from the University of Sunderland train in the art of glass and ceramic working.

THE partnership between the centre and the university is the reason for the refurbishment, and explains why the centre was able to get £750,000 of funding from Arts Council England while organisations such as The Royal Ballet and The National Gallery are complaining about funds being cut.

“If you have a sizable amount of money in hand already, then it makes asking for extra funding much easier,” Mr Bustard says. “The university put up about half of the total cost, the equivalent of paying for the top floor renovations.”

This part of the money was used to double the exhibition space to better provide for local schools, which are being invited along to take part in educational days and practical sessions for students.

While the building remains a working part of the university, Mr Bustard is keen to involve the local community in what they are doing.

“We believe in making Sunderland a university city, rather than just a city with a university.

We take our responsibilities very seriously.

I see this sort of partnership between universities and public buildings becoming much more important in the future as more cuts are made.”

Miriam Harte, a visitor centre consultant who helped raise the money for the Glass Centre, agrees. “Even though there have to be cuts, there is still plenty of money around for the right place with the right potential” she says.

“All the data shows that, in the North-East, people are not as engaged with art and culture as perhaps they should be, so that also helped us.”

As well as improving the gallery spaces and attracting more visitors, the money also went towards making the centre more environmentally- friendly, replacing the old gas-powered furnaces with cleaner electric ones and installing a system which allows the excess heat to be recycled and warm the building.

The opening weekend will feature events including treasure hunts, arts and crafts sessions and themed tours during which 30,000 people are expected over the two days.

Up to 480 people at a time are also invited to walk out onto the centre’s glass roof, from which you can get a view of the Wear as it joins the North Sea, as well as looking down into the galleries below.