Final exhibition to be held at National Glass Centre ahead of closure
The final exhibition ever to be held at National Glass Centre is due to open later this month.
After almost thirty years on the banks of the Wear, National Glass Centre is set to close its doors for the final time on July 31, 2026.
Owners University of Sunderland announced that they would be closing the cultural and heritage asset this year in 2023, citing unaffordable repair costs.
It means that the forthcoming The Graduates exhibition, which opens on Saturday, January 31, will be the final to be held in the NGC gallery spaces.
As well as closing the National Glass Centre, this summer also marks the end of the university’s Glass and Ceramics course after it was announced in 2024 that was recruitment was stopping for the course.
As such, The Graduates will look back and showcase the work of the University of Sunderland’s Glass and Ceramics Department over the past three decades.
The exhibition will feature the work of 51 artists made up of graduates and staff members of University of Sunderland’s Glass and Ceramics Department, including seven invited artists alongside 44 selected artists.
The exhibition has been curated with the help of Reino Liefkes, Senior Curator Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Helen Ritchie, Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Applied Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Several contributing artists have created bespoke works for the exhibition that mark the impact and influence of NGC and reflects on the future of regional glassmaking including James Maskrey with A Moment of Contemplation, Zoe Garner with Save the Last Breath, Bente Brekke with 21 Gram, and Dr Jo Mitchell’s Human Resources I & II.
Alongside representation of artists who have established their position within the glass community, The Graduates also includes work by recent graduates Sean Barnes, Hannah bMasi, Suzie Smith, and Helen Gordon.
In addition, artwork created by members of VICS (Veterans in Crisis Sunderland) and current PhD student Mary Watson, will be featured. The Graduates will be on show within NGC’s Gallery, Balcony Gallery and Research Gallery.
Save the National Glass Centre
With the closure date looming for National Glass Centre, campaigners are still fighting to keep the venue.
More than 38,000 people have signed the Change.org petition to Save the National Glass Centre.
Over the past three years, campaigners have called upon the University of Sunderland, Sunderland Council, and regional and national bodies, to do all that is in their power to retain the National Glass Centre, including glass blowing and skills based learning at the current St Peter’s location.
They say: “We believe that it is one of the few nationally important buildings in the city that draws in visitors from across the region and beyond. It is vital to the vibrancy of the city and adds significantly to the lives of local people, businesses, and students in the area.
“Keeping alive the 1350 year old tradition of glass making is vital to the city’s heritage, culture and identity.
“We understand that the cost of maintaining such an iconic and nationally important building may be too high for University to bear, and urge alternative arrangements to be found to safeguard the National Glass Centre, and the future of the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.”
The old Peter Smith Antiques building in Sunniside has previously been announced as a location for the Glassworks, in which Sunderland Culture will collaborate with partners including the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) along with Sunderland City Council and the University of Sunderland.
It has been described as “a new hub for glassmaking in the city, offering specialist facilities for artists and the public to create and produce glass art”, however, the proposed hub has been labelled as a “downgrade” by some.
In September Sunderland City Council’s main scrutiny committee supported the decision of leading Labour councillors to carry out work to help progress the new glassmaking hub – despite concerns from Save the National Glass Centre campaigners and opposition councillors.
The University of Sunderland, in a previous statement, said the university “has been, and continues to be, completely transparent in its decision-making around the National Glass Centre since the closure was first announced almost three years ago, in January 2023.”
They added “none of the options outlined in the building survey report were affordable” and “no individual or organisation has come forward to offer any financial support towards refurbishing or saving the building at the scale that would be necessary.”