One of the highlights of my research trip to Wales was to witness @malcolm_hastings share how he made a fused glass map of Ynys Enlli – Bardsey Island. It was at the Trust AGM where Malcolm told us of his love for the island since childhood where his family holidays there were characterised by feral roaming, fishing, freedom and endless play outdoors. His mother drew and painted, followed by his brother Jon, till finally Malcolm, a design engineer and artist, decided to bring his own skills to create something beautiful and lasting for Enlli.
The painstaking process took most of a year and included testing every step of the design, creation, firing and transporting of the giant map. Malcolm scaled up an accurate paper map and then laid the glass on top and layered up the picture, working in minute detail to capture everything from the exact borders of fields to paths, buildings, rocky outcrops, the red-and-white layers of the lighthouse and even the tidal currents. He worked with the boatman (third generation of his family to carry passengers to and from Bardsey) to identify 100s of place names and laid these on top, letter at a time. Finally, he added small tiles of his own equisite paintings: the boat, wildflowers, a seal, the moon.
The time, patience, artistry and devotion, not to mention physical labour of it all, reminded me of a monk with an illustrated manuscript. And, like the Book of Kells taken from Iona to Ireland, the three fragile `pages` of Malcolm`s map were carried across the wild waters from the Llŷn Peninsula to Enlli and then into the boathouse to be hung on the wall, just in time before Storm Amy hit.
“Glass is the perfect medium to represent Bardsey," says Malcolm. "Fragile, brittle, you have to be careful not to break it, but it’s enduring and if looked after it will be here a lot longer than us.”
Read more on Malcolm`s Instagram page and the Bardsey Island Trust site. I can`t wait to see it in place on the island in late September.
Photos 1, 6 & 7 are mine. The others are from Bardsey Island Trust and Malcolm Hastings.
#BardseyIsland #Ynys Enlli #GlassArt #mapmaking #NorthWales
