'Lens' by Glenn Carter

Our most recent contemporary art commission was created by stained glass artist, Glenn Carter.

Glenn took his inspiration for ‘Lens’ from the Museum and the way in which our building enables visitors to observe works of art, objects that document social history and specimens from nature at close quarters.

The piece was made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England and was the second in a programme of work (following 'Labelled' by Dail Behennah) that is enabling us to collaborate with leading artists and commission new work by them.

'Lens' hung in front of our half landing window from May 2010 to August 2011. The work is a large yellow/amber-coloured glass circle measuring over 1m in diameter that was lit by the external and changing natural light.

The circle features an image based on the structure of the butterfly wings in our natural history collections. The finished pattern is made up from a series of these images painted onto different sheets of laminated glass. The sheets have then been fused together.

All the materials Glenn worked with to produce 'Lens' are traditional ones that have been used in the decoration of vessel glass and stained glass production for many centuries.

A series of related displays in the cases on either side of our half landing plus a host of events took their inspiration from the piece while it was on display.

Find out more about our contemporary craft and glass in our decorative art collection.

Film

You can view a film which details the creative process behind this commission (this link will take you to the Vimeo website).

Further resources

* This flyer has been produced by Louise Evans, a first year student from the University of Plymouth's BA (Hons) Graphic Communication with Typography course. Students from the course worked on a live brief from the Museum to design a brand and printed output for 'Lens' and Louise's design, which is based on mark-making was selected as the winner.

˜ Glenn Carter in conversation with Adam Milford. This was recorded in the museum, and some background noise may be audible.