Alison Kinnaird | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 30 April 1949 |
| Origin | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Genres | Folk music, Celtic music |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Labels | Temple Records |
| Website | www |
Alison Kinnaird MBE, MA, FGE[1] (born 30 April 1949)[2] is a glass sculptor, Celtic musician, teacher and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland.[3] She is one of the foremost and most original modern glass engravers in Scotland.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Her application to art college having been rejected,[12] Kinnaird earned a MA in Celtic studies and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, in the course of which she also studied copper wheel glass engraving with Harold Gordon in Forres, [13][14] having met him while on a family holiday there.[12]
Kinnaird's glass engraving works are in many galleries and private collections. She has been commissioned to create pieces for the Royal Family such as an engraved goblet for the late Queen Mother, a bowl for Charles and Diana's wedding, also a blue disc for the Emperor of Japan, and the Donor Window in the Scottish Portrait Gallery.[15] She uses lead and optical crystal. The techniques used by Kinnaird include copper-wheel engraving, cutting, sandblasting, acid etching and casting. Starting in a studio in the High Street, Edinburgh, her work won early recognition and was included in an exchange between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Salzburg Fringe.[16] Later, believing that the small physical size of works produced in traditional glass engraving confines their appreciation to a limited audience, she expanded the scale of her works by using flexible drive engraving and sandblasting, combined with the adventurous use of dichroic glass.[17] More recently she has employed bonded coloured glass as her engraving medium.
Kinnaird is also a musician, a gift that led her to discover relationships between music and glass engraving, notably through designs based on Lissajous figures.[18][19] She started playing the harp at 14 and has been credited with starting the Scottish harp revival and the Celtic harp renaissance.[20]She plays, teaches and lectures on the small Scottish harp also known as the clàrsach.[21] She was one of the first acts signed to Temple Records during the 1970s and she has had eight albums released through the label.[22] She worked with the Scottish music group Battlefield Band on their albums Music in Trust Vol I (1987) and Music in Trust Vol II (1988).
Kinnaird has written many books about traditional music and the small Scottish harp. Her first book on the subject was published in 1990 and is a collection of 24 harp tunes that she arranged. Tree of Strings (1992), written in collaboration with Keith Sanger, documents the history of the harp in Scotland and is the first book of its kind. The Lothian Collection (1995) has 25 harp tunes from the big houses and great families from East, West and Midlothian all arranged by Kinnaird. The Small Harp Tutor (1996) is a book about learning to play the small harp, which covers the history of the instrument, maintaining the instrument, arranging tunes and gives useful finger exercises. The book is accompanied by a 60-minute CD, which guides the learner from novice to more accomplished player. Kinnaird's most recent book is The North East Collection [23] which features tunes mainly from the 18th and 19th century arranged by herself.
In 1997, Kinnaird was awarded the MBE for her contribution and long standing service to art and music.[24] In 2011 National Life Stories interviewed Kinnaird for their 'Craft Lives' archive. The interviews took place over three days and document her life from childhood to becoming a successful artist and musician. She has been recognised for her contributions to Scottish folk music and was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Awards – Hall of Fame in 2010.[25]
Alison Kinnaird was married to the musician, producer and writer Robin Morton until his death.[12] She has two children, Ellen and John.
