Reinvigorated glass festival back for 13th year

TWENTY exhibitors and hundreds of visitors will converge on Drysdale this Sunday as the Festival of Glass returns to the Bellarine for a 13th year.

The annual glass festival showcases glass in all of its forms across a full array of hot and cold techniques.

Methods of glass artmaking on display include flamework, studio/furnace glass, kiln formed glass, etching, stained glass, leadlight, mosaics and beadwork.

Festival of Glass convenor Mercedes Drummond said it is an extremely busy time of the year for Festival of Glass Incorporated, the community group responsible for the festival based out of the Drysdale Community Hub.

“There’s not much time for excitement at the moment, mainly because there’s a lot of work going into making this event possible,” Ms Drummond said.

“There’s going to be stalls all over the venue and several spaces for workshops, but we’re looking forward to having that face-to-face connection again, something which was quite restricted last year as we were still coming out of the pandemic.”

The Festival of Glass in 2022 was the first time the event was run in two and a half years due to the global pandemic.

Ms Drummond said the event was “touch-and-go”, meaning many exhibitors, particularly interstate artists, were unable to attend the event.

“Despite the challenges of last year, we were still able to host the festival, and that created the element of trust for exhibitors, many of which are now attending this year’s festival,” Ms Drummond said.

“We still have interstate artists who are either still restarting their work or have stopped producing art altogether due to the struggles of the last few years, but we hope to get in touch with those creatives moving forward.”

Visitors will also get to test out Festival of Glass Incorporated’s new Drysdale Glass Art Trail App.

The app encourages guests to interact with various glassworks and mosaics throughout Drysdale through activities like the Drysdale Central Glass Puzzle Trail.

The Trail follows a route from Eversley Street to several locations in the High Street precinct with clues assisting participants in completing the trail.

Ms Drummond said the trail takes an hour to complete, however, there are plenty of opportunities to head into local cafes and shops during the route.

The festival will run from 10am to 4pm.

For the full list of exhibitors and all information on this Sunday’s Festival of Glass, head to www.sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass