This exciting exhibition was conceived as a showcase for the miniature art form of glass beads to run along side the British Glass Biennale  2008.

Several major internationally renowned glass sculptors were challenged to try their hands at this tiny scale of work along with well known and up and coming glass bead artists who will be presenting their interpretations of Shakespeare’s play 'The Tempest' in the form of one sculptural glass bead each. The small scale of these beautiful little objects belies their complexity and the skill required to produce them but also makes them very approachable and some will be on open display so that their tactile qualities can also be appreciated. They are after all meant to be able to be worn or carried around on the person.

The theme of ‘Tempest’ was chosen to link with other events based on the play at the International Festival of Glass during which the British Glass Biennale and ‘Tempest’ Exhibition will be opened, all taking place in Stourbridge, a great historical centre for glass making. There will also be Master Classes and demonstrations of glass bead making during the Festival.

Photographic interpretations of some of the pieces by photographer, Lucy Hunt, will be shown along side the beads.

‘Tempest’ Exhibition aims to draw attention to this delightful form of work and some of the artists who dedicate themselves to it, blurring the boundaries between large and small scale work and challenging preconceived ideas about glass beads by treating them as the highly  sculptural works that they can be.

The form of the glass bead is older than the vessel and just as valid a canvas.  We have ancient glass beads thought to be in excess of four thousand years old. The beads on show here could easily also last that long, never diminishing in their permanent brilliance of colour. The Japanese people have used the ‘ojime’ bead as a tiny art canvas for many centuries. They now make contemporary glass beads which they call ‘Tombo-dama’ which try to encapsulate a sense of the cosmos in each small globe.

Both exhibitions will run for six weeks and ‘Tempest’ will be situated in the sociable Glasshouse Coffee Shop at Ruskin Glass Centre with free entry.

Some extra beads by exhibiting artists will be on sale in the Festival office during the International Festival of Glass.