Alison Kinnaird
Background information
Born (1949-04-30) 30 April 1949
OriginEdinburgh, Scotland
GenresFolk music, Celtic music
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • sculptor
  • teacher
  • writer
  • glass engraver
LabelsTemple Records
Websitewww.alisonkinnaird.com

Alison Kinnaird MBE, MA, FGE[1] (born 30 April 1949)[2] is a glass sculptor, Celtic musician, teacher and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland.[3] She is one of the foremost and most original modern glass engravers in Scotland.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Portrait

Alison Kinnaird engraving

Her application to art college having been rejected,[12] 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, [13][14] having met him while on a family holiday there.[12]

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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18][19] She started playing the harp at 14 and has been credited with starting the Scottish harp revival and the Celtic harp renaissance.[20]She plays, teaches and lectures on the small Scottish harp also known as the clàrsach.[21] She was one of the first acts signed to Temple Records during the 1970s and she has had eight albums released through the label.[22] 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 Collection [23] which features tunes mainly from the 18th and 19th century arranged by herself.

In 1997, Kinnaird was awarded the MBE for her contribution and long standing service to art and music.[24] 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 has been recognised for her contributions to Scottish folk music and was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Awards – Hall of Fame in 2010.[25]

Alison Kinnaird was married to the musician, producer and writer Robin Morton until his death.[12] She has two children, Ellen and John.

Awards

Triptych
  • 2010: MG Alba Scots Traditional Music Awards, Hall of Fame
  • 2004: Glass Sellers Award
  • 2002: Creative Scotland Award
  • 2001: Adrian Sassoon Award
  • 1998: CC Chelsea First Exhibitors Award
  • 1998: Inches Carr Crafts Bursary
  • 1997: MBE for services to art and music
  • 1987: Glass-Sellers Award
  • 1980: SDA/CCC Crafts Fellowship

Memberships

Annunciation Doors, St Mary's Church Kenardington ©

Teaching

Selected exhibitions

Subway Photographer, Engraved Glass
Graffiti Artist, Engraved Glass
  • 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 [34]
  • 2011 British Studio Glass, Coburg [35]
  • 2010 Invited Artist, British Glass Biennale [36]
  • 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, London [37]
  • 1996 British Glass, Prague
  • 1996 Contemporary Arts Centre, Utrecht [38]
  • 1988 Solo exhibition, Coleridge, London [39]
  • 1987 Group exhibition, Galerie de Vier Linden, Asperen, The Netherlands
  • 1984 Group exhibition, Habatat Gallery, Detroit, USA [40]
  • 1979 The Bowl, British Crafts Centre, London, organised by World Crafts Council
  • 1977 Salzburg Festival, Art Gallery, Salzburg, Austria.[16]
  • 1975 Contemporary Scottish Artists, Exhibitions Centre, Edinburgh

Selected collections

Praise Window, Dornoch Cathedral

Selected commissions

The Donor Window, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Books

  • 2013 Reflections – the Art of Alison Kinnaird, Kinmor Music ISBN 978-0-9540160-2-9
  • 2011 Life Story recorded for British Library Crafts Lives series[51]
  • 2011 Portrait of the Nation, Trustees of the Scottish National Galleries
  • 2008 20th Century British Glass, Charles Hajdamach, Antique Collectors Club ISBN 978-1851495870
  • 2007 Invited Contributor, V & A Museum, 150th Anniversary Celebration Album
  • 2005 25 Years of New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass ISBN 978-0872901605 [52]
  • 2003 Contemporary International Glass, V & A Pub, Jennifer Hawkins Opie ISBN 9781851774265
  • 2002 Artists in Glass, Late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass, Dan Klein, Mitchell Beazley ISBN 978-1840003406
  • 1999 Engraced Glass, Marilyn & Tom Goodearl, Antique Collectors Club ISBN 9781851493074
  • 1996 Glass Art, Peter Layton, Black, University of Washington Press ASIN B012YSKB7W

Bibliography

  • 2002: The North East Collection ISBN 978-0954016012
  • 1996: The Small Harp Tutor ISBN 0-9511204-2-5
  • 1995: The Lothian Collection ISBN 0951120484
  • 1992: Tree of Strings ISBN 0951120433

Discography

  • 2004: The Silver String [53][54]
  • 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 [55]
  • 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 ASIN B003V9AAOS (Temple US Records) [56][57][58][53]

References

  1. ↑ "Fellow, Guild of Glass Engravers". Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  2. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1382. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  3. ↑ "Alison Kinnaird". Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  4. ↑ "Information and History - Scotland's Glass - Alison Kinnaird". Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Robert B. McNeill, A portrait in light and music Scots Magazine, March 2005, 338-342
  6. ↑ "Temple artist shows her glass by opening her home for Fringe". Midlothian Advertiser. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  7. ↑ "Alison Kinnaird discusses her explorations of the timeless by pairing traditional techniques with contemporary themes". Urban Glass. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Duncan Macmillan reviews five shows from across Scotland". The Scotsman. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  9. ↑ Alison Kinnaird - Art in Glass. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "Craft Scotland - Alison Kinnaird". Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Pittenweem Arts Festival - Alison Kinnaird". Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 "The art school reject who became one of the world's top glass artists". BBC News. 15 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "Harold Gordon at work". Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  14. ↑ "Alison Kinnaird". National GallerieS. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  15. ↑ Brown, Angie (16 January 2023). "The Art School Reject Who Became One of the World's Top Glass Artists". BBC News. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  16. 1 2 Mary Gladstone, Of Clocks, Birds and Apple Cores, Scotland’s Crafts Guide, Summer 1977, 20, 10-11
  17. ↑ Alison Kinnaird, British Glass Engraving, The Search for Perfection, Contemporary Glass Society Newsletter, Glass Network, September 2011, 2-6
  18. ↑ Robert B. McNeill, A portrait in light and music, Scots Magazine, March 2005, p338-342
  19. ↑ Senai Boztas, Alison Kinnaird, Neues Glas, Spring 2006 (1/06), 18-25
  20. ↑ Jackson, Stevan R. (2004). Tartan and Strings: Ethnography of a Musical Culture. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. p. 104. ISBN 0-7575-1530-4.
  21. ↑ "The Scottish Harp". YouTube. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  22. ↑ "Temple Records artists page". Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  23. ↑ The North-east Collection, Alison Kinnaird, Music Sales Corp 2003, ISBN 978-0954016012
  24. ↑ "Kinnaird, Alison, Clarsach Player and Teacher and Glass Engraver, serv Music and to Art". The Independent. 31 December 1996. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  25. ↑ "Alison Kinnaird MBE". Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  26. ↑ "Guild of Glass Engravers". Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  27. ↑ "Broadcasting Council for Scotland". Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  28. ↑ "Contemporary Glass Society". Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  29. ↑ "Glass Art Society". Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  30. ↑ "Scottish Glass Society". Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  31. ↑ "Urban Glass". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  32. ↑ "Northlands Creative". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  33. ↑ "Bild-Werk Frauenau". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  34. ↑ "Johansfors Gallery". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  35. ↑ "Europäisches Museum für modernes Glas". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  36. ↑ "British Glass Biennale". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  37. ↑ Jennifer Opie, Crafts, Decorative and Applied Arts Magazine July/August 1998, 153, 29-31
  38. ↑ "Kunsthal KAdE". Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  39. ↑ "Coleridge-London's Contemporary Art Gallery-Alison Kinnaird". Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  40. ↑ "Habatat Galleries". Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  41. ↑ Contemporary Glass Society Newsletter, Interview by Dan Klein, Glass Network 2004, 13, 1-3
  42. ↑ Psalmsong - Alison Kinnaird. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  43. ↑ "Tutsek Foundation". Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  44. ↑ Jennifer Opie, The Burlington Magazine, May 1994, 344
  45. ↑ "ST MARY'S CHURCH, KENARDINGTON Diocese of Canterbury" (PDF). www.rochester.anglican.org/resources/church-buildings-dac/church-reordering-case-studies/church-reordering-case-studies.php. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  46. 1 2 "Reflections...the art of Alison Kinnaird Part 1". YouTube. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  47. ↑ "Reflections...the art of Alison Kinnaird Part 2". YouTube. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  48. ↑ "Celebrating Glass Art in Downtown Tacoma". Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  49. ↑ "Stained Glass Windows". 21 August 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  50. ↑ Liz Hoggard, CRAFTS, July/August 2001, 171, 22-23
  51. ↑ "National Life Stories: Crafts Lives". Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  52. ↑ "Psalmsong with Shadow Banner Engraved glass; digitally printed shadow" (PDF). New Glass Review. 25: 25. 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  53. 1 2 "Temple Records". Templerecords.co.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  54. ↑ "The Silver String, Alison Kinnaird, Gael Linn, 2004". Folkmusic.net. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  55. ↑ "musicscotland.com". Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  56. ↑ The Scots Magazine, The Harp Key, September 1996
  57. ↑ Bond, L, Alison Kinnaird, The Harp Key, Dirty Linen, page 73 Aug/Sept 1996
  58. ↑ Evans, D, Alison Kinnaird The Harp Key, Taplas, Jun/July 1996
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