Glass articles - Scottish Glass People |
Scottish Glass – Makers, Craftsmen & Artists |
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Ian TurnerMonart glass Researcher and Authorby Ian Turner |
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Ian Turner was born in Birmingham in 1937. He was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, UK, Cambridge University (1957–60), UK, and the University of Washington, Seattle, USA (1960–61). He is retired. By profession he was a chartered town planner, and he ended his career in local government as director of planning for the City of Derby. He began collecting Monart glass in the early 1980s and then researched its history. He was a friend of the noted English glass collector and author Cyril Manley, who was, in turn, a friend of Paul Ysart. Paul, with his father Salvador and his brothers Augustine, Vincent and Antoine, had made Monart glass in Perth from its start in 1924 until the outbreak of World War Two. By the 1980s, only Paul Ysart was still alive. Ian went to see him at his home near Wick and interviewed him many times and at length about his life and his life’s work, firstly as a glassblower and paperweight maker at Moncrieff’s, then at the Caithness Glass factory in Wick, and lastly at his own workshop in Harland just outside Wick. Paul Ysart made all the post war Monart glass at Moncrieff until production ceased in 1962 He was then appointed training officer at Caithness Glass. Paul Ysart is universally acknowledged as the father of the Scottish paperweight industry. Ian was greatly assisted in his research into Monart glass by Miss Betty Reid, who was the dispatch clerk at Moncrieff from 1944 until she was made redundant in the early 1980s. In the 1960s, Miss Reid single-handedly salvaged many Moncrieff company archives from a skip, and she made them available to Ian for his research; on her death, her family bequeathed them to Ian. |
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Ian Turner at the Perth Conference in 2005 |
Ian published his research in an article for the catalogue of the seminal exhibition "British Glass Between The Wars" at Broadfield House Glass Museum in 1987 and in greater detail in the section on Monart glass in Ysart Glass, published by Volo Editions in 1990. His latest publication on this subject is "Monart Lighting" in the Journal of the Glass Association, volume 7, 2004. Ian is a past chairman of the Glass Association. In addition to writing and lecturing on Monart glass, Ian has contributed articles on 20th century glass and pottery to many specialist magazines, and his book Candy Art Pottery was published by the Hillian Press in 2000. His collection of Monart glass was sold at Christie’s South Kensington on 24 September 2003. Ian has bequeathed his collection of Moncrieff company papers and other memorabilia relating to the work of the Ysart family of glass artists to Perth Museum and Art Gallery in memory of Miss Betty Reid. ©2006 Ian Turner |
← Betty Reid - Dispatch Clerk John Moncrieff Ltd |
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