By Luke Voogt
When Drysdale’s Festival of Glass began in 2011 it was just in time for newly-trained artist and Leopold nanna Lynda Rogers.
“I’d just done some courses and I saw the festival posters – it was like a sign,” she joked.
The 55-year-old took up the art eight years ago to wind down after work.
“I used to work at Target Head office in a high pressure job and it was just good stress relief,” she said.
Lynda discovered the art in country Victoria when she took a trip to learn mosaics from a glass artist.
“As soon as I saw everything in her studio I thought ‘I have to learn to do that and that and that’,” she said.
She spent the next six weeks driving two hours each way to Kilmore learning the craft.
“I hired my first kiln just in case it was going to be a passing phase.”
Lynda bought her own kiln four years ago, giving discarded bottles a “second life” as flowers, bowls, clocks and signs.
“I’m really getting into the recycling stuff,” she said.
Her part-time job at a local liquor store also helps her indulge her passion.
“I have customers bring me in their bottles,” she said.
“There’s always something you can do with it.”
Lynda will again vie for the festival’s recycling prize with fellow grandparent David Hobday, who has won it two years in row.
David, a 63-year-old from Point Lonsdale, has exhibited in the Festival of Glass since it began.
“The festival’s been amazing,” he said.
“The people that organise it … put in so much to make it a great day.”
David’s 29 years as a marine biologist and his love of the ocean inspired his work, which includes boats, waves and colourful sea creatures.
“I just love living near the water I could never be far from it,” he said.
His glass journey began when he created a glass lamp shade in the ’70s.
“They were pretty popular back then,” he said.
The “watery qualities” of glass make it perfect for David’s nautical themed pieces.
“It marries a bit of the science and the art together – there are a lot of technical aspects to it.”
David, who has taught classes in glass, said recycling works posed a unique challenge.
“You’ve got to think outside of the square.”
The Festival of Glass Expo runs 10am to 4pm at the Christian College Drysdale, with other events across the Bellarine this weekend.
For more information www.sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass
