Output details

Building on the past: The pâtes-de-verre sculpture of Max Stewart

Brief description: Dr Max Stewart and Professor Keith Cummings discuss the outcomes of their collaboration in an AHRC funded research project into the techniques and methodologies of pâte de verre within the work of the French pioneer Amalric Walter. Stewart’s contribution to this research is the progression from his initial scientific research into a much wider body of artistic work with a distinct philosophy of approach. The article also puts into historical context Stewart’s work within the Studio Glass movement of the 20th century.

Research rationale: The article describes the progress from the original empirical inquiry on Walter, through the experimental reproduction of his process, the organisation of that process for publication, as well as the extension of the process through the production of new colours, and into their use as an expressive vocabulary. It also relates extensions to the casting process itself, which form part of a wide technique that has been developed by Stewart into the making of pâte de verre. It examines in detail for the first time Stewart’s rationale for his personal work and relates the motivation behind Stewart’s production of pâte de verre sculptures.

Strategies undertaken: The article places Stewart’s work in the wider context of the international Studio Glass movement and discusses how his work pushes the boundaries of the craft through a synthesis of maker and researcher. It asserts and illustrates that out of detailed scientific investigation new artistic vocabularies can be produced, which have far reaching effects on the expression of the maker/artist. A group of Stewart’s sculptures are explored noting his methodologies and techniques and how the sculptures themselves are able provoke complex interpretations.