North Lands Creative

In 1995 North Lands Creative was established in Lybster, a small fishing village in Caithness on the Far North East Coast of Scotland, to stimulate the growing interest in the possibilities of glass as an art form. From the start it aimed to become an international centre of excellence in glass making, encouraging collaboration with other artforms. The inspiration for North Lands Creative came from Robert Maclennan, at that time Member of Parliament for Caithness and Sutherland. He developed the idea of an international centre for glass in Caithness with Dan Klein, one of the world’s experts in studio glass, and Professor Keith Cummings of the University of Wolverhampton. The first master class was given in 1996 by Bertil Vallien, the legendary Swedish artist, who returned to Lybster in 2002 to lead another class. Other master class leaders have included notable glass artists: Tessa Clegg; Irene Frolic; Mieke Groot; Richard Meitner; Klaus Moje; Joel Philip Myers; Dante Marioni; Richard Marquis; Jan Erik Ritzman; Paul Stankard and Ann Wolff. Sculptors: Tony Cragg; Richard Deacon; David Nash and Richard Wentworth, and the Scottish painter Adrian Wiszniewski, have figured among course leaders from disciplines other than glass.