Alison Kinnaird

Alison Kinnaird MBE (born 30 April 1949) is a Scottish glass sculptor, Celtic musician, teacher, and writer. She is one of the most prominent glass engravers in Scotland.

Early life and education Alison Kinnaird was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 30 April 1949.

Her application to art college having been rejected, 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, having met him while on a family holiday there.

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

Recognition and awards In 1997, Kinnaird was awarded the MBE for her contribution and longstanding service to art and music.

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 is a fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers.

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.

Kinnaird has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including: 2004: Glass Sellers Award 2002: Creative Scotland Award 2001: Adrian Sassoon Award 1998: CC Chelsea First Exhibitors Award 1998: Inches Carr Crafts Bursary 1987: Glass-Sellers Award 1980: SDA/CCC Crafts Fellowship

Personal life Kinnaird was married to the musician, producer, and writer Robin Morton until his death. Contemporary Glass Society Glass Art Society Scottish Glass Society Index of Selected Makers, Crafts Council

Teaching Masterclasses, International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, England Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY College of Art and Design, Wroclaw, Poland Northlands Creative Glass, Scotland Corning Glass Studio, Corning NY, USA Frauenau, Germany

Selected exhibitions

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 2011 British Studio Glass, Coburg 2010 Invited Artist, British Glass Biennale 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 1996 British Glass, Prague 1996 Contemporary Arts Centre, Utrecht 1988 Solo exhibition, Coleridge, London 1987 Group exhibition, Galerie de Vier Linden, Asperen, The Netherlands 1984 Group exhibition, Habatat Gallery, Detroit, USA 1979 The Bowl, British Crafts Centre, London, organised by World Crafts Council 1977 Salzburg Festival, Art Gallery, Salzburg, Austria. 2005 Streetwise I, Tutsek Foundation, Munich 2005 Streetwise II, Dundee Museum & Art Gallery 2003 Portrait of Roy Dennis, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh 2001 Evolve, Broadfield House Glass Museum 2001 White Lies, Crafts Council Collection 1995 Triptych, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1989 Man into Seal, Corning Museum of Glass, New York City, USA 1988 Ring of Crystal, Ring of Stone, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester 1987 Disc – Leap, Ulster Museum, Belfast 1986 Doors on the Past, National Museum of Scotland 1986 Disc – She is Summer, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow 1980 Doors – engraved block, Scottish Development Agency – Scottish Crafts Collection, Edinburgh

Selected commissions

2017 Nativity Window, St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent 2016 Window, St Cross College, Oxford 2015 Quaking Aspen Panels, Beverley Hills, California 2014 Windows, Dornoch Cathedral 2012 Donor Window, Scottish National Portrait Gallery 2009 Self Portrait, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 2007 Interface-Panels for Murano Hotel, Tacoma, USA 2006 Butterfly Panels, Marchmont St Giles Church, Edinburgh 2004 Praise Window, Dornoch Cathedral 2003 Portrait of Roy Dennis, National Portrait Gallery of Scotland 1993 British Film Institute Awards 1992 Door panels, commissioned by Lord Bute of Mount Stuart 1991 Alumnus of the Year Award, commissioned by Edinburgh University 1990 Gift for His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince of Japan, commissioned by Royal Bank of Scotland 1989 Screen of 10 panels, commissioned by Lord Bute of Mount Stuart 1986 Gift for HM the Queen Mother, commissioned by Royal College of Physicians 1983 Duke of Edinburgh Design Award, commissioned by Alan Doe of Westland Helicopters 1980 Wedding bowl for HRH the Prince of Wales, commissioned by The Scotsman newspaper 1979 The Wealth of Nations presented to The London Institute of Banking & Finance in England, commissioned by Institute of Bankers in Scotland

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