Three Generations of Glass
Situated amidst the quiet rolling farmland on the Mornington Peninsula, the gallery and workshop’s natural environment is indicative of the artisan heritage within.
As one of the most internationally celebrated Art Glass families in Australia, the Gordon Studio Glassblowers presents years of practice, infinite patience, and unique work to the world of Art Glass. Consisting of 7 members across 3 generations, this family of engravers and glassblowers prove that glass has a continued importance within the modern canvas of artisan practice.
The family’s love of the medium began in 1953 at the Edinburgh College of Art where Rish and Alasdair Gordon met, graduating with diplomas specialising in glass engraving and a lifelong partnership. The couple famously worked at Hadelands Glassworks in Scotland before moving to Norway to raise their family and later establish the Gordon Studio Glass Engravers. Together they emigrated to Australia in 1980 settling in Perth, where it didn’t take long for the glass gene to reveal itself in daughter Eileen and son Kevin. Neither have looked back.
Eileen founded the Gordon Studio Glassblowers in Red Hill with her husband and fellow glassblower Grant Donaldson in 2004. Their two sons, Hamish and Calum Donaldson, have both grown up in the glass studio and are now emerging glass artists.
A short film by Charlie McGowan.
EILEEN GORDON
Born in Norway in 1961 to glass artists Alasdair and Rish Gordon, Eileen was inspired to work with glass. After completing a broad glassmaking education in the UK, which she coupled with subsequent work experience and further study, Eileen joined her family and emigrated to Australia. The early 80’s was a progressive era for the Studio Movement and glass experimentation in Australia, and Eileen spent a further three years studying at the Jam Factory Craft & Design in Adelaide. She went on to help establish the Tasmanian Glassblowers where she met Grant, who was managing a farm nearby. After gaining more experience overseas, Eileen returned to Australia. In 1990, Eileen and Grant set up the Gordon Studio Glassblowers in Numurkah, Victoria. The studio is now at home in Red Hill, in the heart of the Mornington Peninsula. Eileen’s pieces reflect her understanding of the difficult medium; they are skilfully crafted and yet deceptively simple. They show her love of nature and elegant forms, allowing light to give life to colour.
GRANT DONALDSON
Born in Australia in 1959, Grant worked on the land until 1994 where he met Eileen Gordon and became captivated by the medium of Glass. With boundless enthusiasm Grant moved from farming to full time glassblowing while assisting Eileen, quickly developing remarkable skills. Grant enjoys the thrill of trying to create works in glass that reflect his complex ideas. For any artist it is difficult to translate abstract thought into work, but Grant doesn’t allow the glass medium to shackle this process. Loose pencil drawings attempt transcription of his thoughts, allowing his work in glass lots of latitude to flex and change. His art: a description of his journey and ideas about time and space. The past becomes “a slingshot to explore the future”.
KEVIN GORDON
Kevin Gordon creates complex glass vessels that exemplify his technical command of traditional glass-making processes; overlaid colour-blown glass is decorated through engraving, sandblasting and lathe cutting through layers of colour, then brought back to a high polish through hand and fire polishing. This approach exploits colour and light transmitting properties of glass to great effect. Some parts are translucent, others capture the light and the faceted sides refract light – creating a montage of visual impressions through the play of light and colour. Kevin comes from a family of glass engravers, who immigrated to Australia in 1980, and from whom he learned traditional techniques. With the development of his own techniques and processes, he has moved his work into his own contemporary approach to glass.
HAMISH DONALDSON
Grant and Eileen’s eldest son Hamish is back at Gordon Studio in Red Hill after undergoing a two-year associate program at the JAM Factory in Adelaide. The course provided high-level skills and business training, and offered many opportunities to work alongside some of Australia’s leading artists. Prior to getting into the JAM Factory, Hamish trained at Gordon Studio Glassblowers working mostly as an assistant and creating his own works on the side when he could. Having grown up in the hot shop, he has always been in awe of his parents, uncle and grandparents, but it wasn’t until after he returned from a year long trip across South America that the spark was truly ignited. Sourcing many opportunities across the globe, including learning and working in Turkey and the USA among others, Hamish is chasing his passion for exploring through his glass journey.
CALUM DONALDSON
Grant and Eileen’s youngest son Calum loves two things: glassblowing and snowboarding, however, it was a Tom Moore course that confirmed Calum’s intrigue and passion for the artform. He has just completed a two-year associate program at the JAM Factory in Adelaide, following in the footsteps of his mum Eileen and brother Hamish. Calum was 19 years old when he started working in the studio and loves to create timeless pieces of functional art like goblets, decanters and other tableware. During his time at the JAM, he demonstrated leadership in his learning, ethic and creativity. With a naturally creative mind and an ability to think inquisitively and innovatively, he has an exciting future expressing ideas with glass.
ALASDAIR GORDON
Eileen’s father Alasdair Gordon met Patricia ‘Rish’ Roddan at the Edinburgh College of Art – in 1954 – when she made a cheeky remark in Swahili about a rooster he designed for a French restaurant menu. He was 23 years old and a serendipitous path led him to specialise in glass engraving. The young couple moved to Norway to pursue this fascinating artform with Hadelands Glassworks, where Alasdair gained practical experience and researched new techniques such as sandblasting as a sculptural medium. Alasdair and Rish married in 1958 and established an engraving workshop in Bergen. Fifteen years later they returned to Scotland and opened a studio working mostly on commission, including gifts for presentation to the Norwegian Royal Family. In 1979, Alasdair fell in love with Western Australia and the family emigrated soon after, establishing the original Gordon Studio in Fremantle. In 2007 Alasdair and Rish were both nominated by FORM Australia as Living Treasures. Towards the twilights years of his career, Alasdair focused tirelessly on wheel-engraved cameo subjects, hoping that his work would help to sustain interest in the ancient artform. He has exhibited nationally and overseas, held engraving workshops, and his commissioned work includes many pieces for presentation to Royalty, public and corporate bodies. Alasdair peacefully passed away on the Mornington Peninsula in January 2019, proud as ever of the family’s achievements. While his artwork can still be enjoyed at The Gordon Studio Gallery in Red Hill, it is not for sale.
RISH GORDON
Born in the north of England in 1935, Rish was educated at Kenya High School in Nairobi before enrolling in the Edinburgh College of Art where she met Alasdair. After graduating she worked as a freelance engraver with Whitefriars Glass in London before joining Alasdair at Hadelands Glassworks in Norway in 1958. While raising four children – Susan, Eileen, Cameron & Kevin – Rish produced freelance watercolour paintings of the Norwegian flora and fauna. But during her early years in Kenya, Rish developed a keen interest in African wildlife and considerable abilities in watercolour and eventually she chose to go back to the medium of glass engraving as a vehicle for these visions. Over the years she has refined a sandblasting etching technique which is very much her own. Rish has exhibited nationally and abroad, and has been commissioned for engraved presentation pieces for HRH Prince Philip, Bill Clinton and for Prime Minister Bob Hawke. She is also represented in the National Gallery, Canberra. Now in her 85th year she has gone back to mostly painting and she is loving doing commissioned animal portraits.
