Inge Panneels - visiting artist

Inge Panneels is a glass artist who lives in Lilliesleaf. She talked of having a portfolio career which is doing lots of activities which relate to your practice in order to earn a living. She also teaches glassmaking at Sunderland University.
Over her 20 year career so far she has worked in three areas of glassmaking. 
1) Architectural - which is working with space and in buildings. She has to respond to the site and the clients wishes and engage in lots of dialogue. An example of this is the above map of Liverpool which was commissioned for the new museum. She won a competition to get this commission. This installation is 2.1 metres high and is substantial. Inge has also done commissions for companies like BT, Heart of Hawick, NHS, banks and some councils.
2) Commercial wares - this involves smaller pieces for around the £100 or under mark which are more affordable to the general public. Inge seemed fed up of making plates and she found this way of working posed the question - how do you maintain artistic integrity when you need to make a living?
3) Sculptural - she talked of being given very short notice to create a sculpture - she ended up making Inge's turds on sticks!

Inge talked about how being a freelance artist can be a feast or a famine. She has had to fundraise at times and she recommended getting into the habit of writing applications and dealing with rejections.
She described persistence as a very desirable quality and she said it was important to be able to present her ideas. Inge has found that working collaboratively has had its advantages and it is important to have a trusted network of people in different disciplines e.g. wood, brass.
She says good photographs are essential as they will stay on the internet for a very long time. She also advises to keep notebooks to reference processes i.e. what worked and what did not, as you might not remember!
Inge has found her career adapting to meet needs (hers included) - she is moving away from production pieces to more local projects.
The process of glassmaking sounded a bit technical in places so in that sense it put me off. I should have asked the basic question (but it was too late when I thought of it) - how do you make glass art?
Inge presumed I had more knowledge than I had, I don't know how the rest of my classmates fared.
However I like the colours and the light shining through glass.

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