Alison Kinnaird MBE (born 30 April 1949) is a Scottish glass sculptor, Celtic musician, teacher, and writer. She is one of the most prominent glass engravers in Scotland.
Early life and education Alison Kinnaird was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 30 April 1949.
Her application to art college having been rejected, Kinnaird earned a MA in Celtic studies and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, in the course of which she also studied copper wheel glass engraving with Harold Gordon in Forres, having met him while on a family holiday there.
Career and practice
Kinnaird is one of the foremost and most original modern glass engravers in Scotland.Robert B. McNeill, A portrait in light and music Scots Magazine, March 2005, 338-342
Kinnaird's glass engraving works are in many galleries and private collections. She has been commissioned to create pieces for the Royal Family such as an engraved goblet for the late Queen Mother, a bowl for Charles and Diana's wedding, also a blue disc for the Emperor of Japan, and the Donor Window in the Scottish Portrait Gallery. She uses lead and optical crystal. The techniques used by Kinnaird include copper-wheel engraving, cutting, sandblasting, acid etching and casting. Starting in a studio in the High Street, Edinburgh, her work won early recognition and was included in an exchange between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Salzburg Fringe.Mary Gladstone, Of Clocks, Birds and Apple Cores, Scotland’s Crafts Guide, Summer 1977, 20, 10-11 Later, believing that the small physical size of works produced in traditional glass engraving confines their appreciation to a limited audience, she expanded the scale of her works by using flexible drive engraving and sandblasting, combined with the adventurous use of dichroic glass.Alison Kinnaird, British Glass Engraving, The Search for Perfection, Contemporary Glass Society Newsletter, Glass Network, September 2011, 2-6 More recently she has employed bonded coloured glass as her engraving medium.
Kinnaird is also a musician, a gift that led her to discover relationships between music and glass engraving, notably through designs based on Lissajous figures.Robert B. McNeill, A portrait in light and music, Scots Magazine, March 2005, pp. 338–342Senai Boztas, Alison Kinnaird, Neues Glas, Spring 2006 (1/06), 18-25 She started playing the harp at 14 and has been credited with starting the Scottish harp revival and the Celtic harp renaissance. She plays, teaches and lectures on the small Scottish harp also known as the clàrsach. She was one of the first acts signed to Temple Records during the 1970s and she has had eight albums released through the label. She worked with the Scottish music group Battlefield Band on their albums Music in Trust Vol I (1987) and Music in Trust Vol II (1988).
Kinnaird has written many books about traditional music and the small Scottish harp. Her first book on the subject was published in 1990 and is a collection of 24 harp tunes that she arranged. Tree of Strings (1992), written in collaboration with Keith Sanger, documents the history of the harp in Scotland and is the first book of its kind. The Lothian Collection (1995) has 25 harp tunes from the big houses and great families from East, West and Midlothian all arranged by Kinnaird. The Small Harp Tutor (1996) is a book about learning to play the small harp, which covers the history of the instrument, maintaining the instrument, arranging tunes and gives useful finger exercises. The book is accompanied by a 60-minute CD, which guides the learner from novice to more accomplished player. Kinnaird's most recent book is The North East CollectionThe North-east Collection, Alison Kinnaird, Music Sales Corp 2003, which features tunes mainly from the 18th and 19th century arranged by herself.
Recognition and awards In 1997, Kinnaird was awarded the MBE for her contribution and longstanding service to art and music.
In 2011, National Life Stories interviewed Kinnaird for their "Craft Lives" archive. The interviews took place over three days and document her life from childhood to becoming a successful artist and musician.
She is a fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers.
She has been recognised for her contributions to Scottish folk music, and was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Awards – Hall of Fame in 2010.
Kinnaird has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including: 2004: Glass Sellers Award 2002: Creative Scotland Award 2001: Adrian Sassoon Award 1998: CC Chelsea First Exhibitors Award 1998: Inches Carr Crafts Bursary 1987: Glass-Sellers Award 1980: SDA/CCC Crafts Fellowship
Personal life Kinnaird was married to the musician, producer, and writer Robin Morton until his death.
Memberships
2003–2004: Member of the award panel for Creative Scotland Award 1993–1996 Scottish Arts Council Crafts Committee 1984–1987 BBC Broadcasting Council for Scotland Contemporary Glass Society Glass Art Society Scottish Glass Society Index of Selected Makers, Crafts Council
Teaching Masterclasses, International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, England Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY College of Art and Design, Wroclaw, Poland Northlands Creative Glass, Scotland Corning Glass Studio, Corning NY, USA Frauenau, Germany
Selected exhibitions
2018 Berengo Gallery, Murano, Italy 2017 Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, solo exhibition 2017 Scottish Glass Society, Edinburgh 2017 Celebrating 80, London Glassblowing Gallery 2016 Unknown, Scottish Parliament to Kirkaldy Art Gallery (ongoing tour) 2015 British Glass Biennale, Stourbridge 2014 Edinburgh International Festival, solo show 2013 SOFA Chicago 2013 Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, solo show 2012 Luminesce, Linlithgow, Scotland, solo exhibition, 2012 Fleming Collection, London 2012 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, solo exhibition 2012 Travelling exhibition, Wroclaw, Jelenia Gora, Ostrow, Lesno, Poland 2011 Johansfors, Kristallmuseum, Sweden 2011 British Studio Glass, Coburg 2010 Invited Artist, British Glass Biennale 2009 Urban Glass, NY, USA 2008 The Cutting Edge, Royal Museums of Scotland 2007 Invited Artist, Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy 2006 British Glass Biennale, Stourbridge 2006 Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark 2006 Coburg Glaspreis Exhibition' 2005 21st Century British Glass, London 2004 Psalmsong, V&A London Museum 2004 British Glass Biennale, Stourbridge 2004 Broadfield House Glass Museum, Dudley 2002 Art for Europe, Brussels 2001 Art Glass Gallery, Santa Fe 1999 Kaminesky Senov, Czech Republic 1999 National Glass Centre, Sunderland 1998 Contemporary Applied Arts, LondonJennifer Opie, Crafts, Decorative and Applied Arts Magazine July/August 1998, 153, 29-31 1996 British Glass, Prague 1996 Contemporary Arts Centre, Utrecht 1988 Solo exhibition, Coleridge, London 1987 Group exhibition, Galerie de Vier Linden, Asperen, The Netherlands 1984 Group exhibition, Habatat Gallery, Detroit, USA 1979 The Bowl, British Crafts Centre, London, organised by World Crafts Council 1977 Salzburg Festival, Art Gallery, Salzburg, Austria. 1975 Contemporary Scottish Artists, Exhibitions Centre, Edinburgh
Selected collections
2016 Eve, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague 2012 Standing Feathers, Aberdeen Art Gallery 2010 Adam and Eve, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead 2008 Maze, National Museum of Scotland 2005 Psalmsong, Scottish Parliament, EdinburghContemporary Glass Society Newsletter, Interview by Dan Klein, Glass Network 2004, 13, 1-3 2005 Streetwise I, Tutsek Foundation, Munich 2005 Streetwise II, Dundee Museum & Art Gallery 2003 Portrait of Roy Dennis, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh 2001 Evolve, Broadfield House Glass Museum 2001 White Lies, Crafts Council Collection 1995 Triptych, Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonJennifer Opie, The Burlington Magazine, May 1994, 344 1989 Man into Seal, Corning Museum of Glass, New York City, USA 1988 Ring of Crystal, Ring of Stone, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester 1987 Disc – Leap, Ulster Museum, Belfast 1986 Doors on the Past, National Museum of Scotland 1986 Disc – She is Summer, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow 1980 Doors – engraved block, Scottish Development Agency – Scottish Crafts Collection, Edinburgh
Selected commissions
2017 Nativity Window, St Mary's Church, Kenardington, Kent 2016 Window, St Cross College, Oxford 2015 Quaking Aspen Panels, Beverley Hills, California 2014 Windows, Dornoch Cathedral 2012 Donor Window, Scottish National Portrait Gallery 2009 Self Portrait, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 2007 Interface-Panels for Murano Hotel, Tacoma, USA 2006 Butterfly Panels, Marchmont St Giles Church, Edinburgh 2004 Praise Window, Dornoch Cathedral 2003 Portrait of Roy Dennis, National Portrait Gallery of Scotland 2000 Millennium Commission, Broadfield House Glass MuseumLiz Hoggard, CRAFTS, July/August 2001, 171, 22-23 1993 British Film Institute Awards 1992 Door panels, commissioned by Lord Bute of Mount Stuart 1991 Alumnus of the Year Award, commissioned by Edinburgh University 1990 Gift for His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince of Japan, commissioned by Royal Bank of Scotland 1989 Screen of 10 panels, commissioned by Lord Bute of Mount Stuart 1986 Gift for HM the Queen Mother, commissioned by Royal College of Physicians 1983 Duke of Edinburgh Design Award, commissioned by Alan Doe of Westland Helicopters 1980 Wedding bowl for HRH the Prince of Wales, commissioned by The Scotsman newspaper 1979 The Wealth of Nations presented to The London Institute of Banking & Finance in England, commissioned by Institute of Bankers in Scotland
Books 2013 Reflections – the Art of Alison Kinnaird, Kinmor Music 2011 Life Story recorded for British Library Crafts Lives series 2011 Portrait of the Nation, Trustees of the Scottish National Galleries 2008 20th Century British Glass, Charles Hajdamach, Antique Collectors Club 2007 Invited Contributor, V & A Museum, 150th Anniversary Celebration Album 2005 25 Years of New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass 2003 Contemporary International Glass, V & A Pub, Jennifer Hawkins Opie 2002 Artists in Glass, Late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass, Dan Klein, Mitchell Beazley 1999 Engraced Glass, Marilyn & Tom Goodearl, Antique Collectors Club 1996 Glass Art, Peter Layton, Black, University of Washington Press
Bibliography 2002: The North East Collection 1996: The Small Harp Tutor 1995: The Lothian Collection 1992: Tree of Strings
Discography 2004: The Silver String 1994: Mac-talla – Mairidh Gaol Is Ceol 1992: The Harper's Land (with Ann Heymann) 1990: The Quiet Tradition (with Christine Primrose) 1988: The Scottish Harp 1988: Music in Trust Vol. 2 (with Battlefield Band) 1986: Music in Trust Vol. 1 (with Battlefield Band) 1979: The Harp Key – Crann Nan Teud (Temple US Records)The Scots Magazine, The Harp Key, September 1996Bond, L, Alison Kinnaird, The Harp Key, Dirty Linen, page 73 Aug/Sept 1996Evans, D, Alison Kinnaird The Harp Key, Taplas, Jun/July 1996 1976: Craobh Nan Ubhal (Traditional Gaelic Songs From The Western Isles) by Flora MacNeil (tracks 8 and 10)
References
External links
How to create stunning portraits on glass - BBC video in which Kinnaird demonstrates some of her techniques