A Story: Eileen and Rish Gordon
Drawing upon nature together to paint the most beautiful stories on glass and canvas, mother and daughter Rish and Eileen are united in their love for art and wildlife.
Born in the north of England in 1935, Patricia ‘Rish’ Roddan was educated at Kenya High School in Nairobi before enrolling in the Edinburgh College of Art, where she met her future husband and glass engraver Alasdair Gordon in 1954 – after making a cheeky remark in Swahili about a rooster he designed for a French restaurant menu.
After graduating, Rish 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 and Kevin – Rish produced freelance watercolour paintings of the Norwegian flora and fauna.
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 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.
Born in Norway in 1961, Eileen completed a broad glassmaking education in the UK before joining Rish, Alasdair, and her siblings, who had emigrated to Australia.
Eileen went on to help establish the Tasmanian Glassblowers where she met Grant, who was managing a farm nearby. After gaining more experience overseas, she returned to Australia and opened Gordon Studio Glassblowers with Grant in Numurkah, Victoria.
Today, Rish has gone back to mostly painting and she is loving working on commissioned animal portraits. Eileen shares her mother’s love for nature, which inspires every piece of art she works on.
"Mum taught me to draw which equipped me with the fundamentals to do what I love doing every day," says Eileen.