SENSITIVE use of materials and great flair for design has put glassmaking firmly in the frame for buyers looking for both functional items and sculptural pieces.

And there is no better stage to prove the point than the Contemporary Glass exhibition running at Blackwell, the Bowness art house, until December 31. The exhibition focuses on five leading glass producers, who combine fine craftsmanship with great imagination.

Suresh Dutt, Amanda Notarianni, Michael Ruh and the partnership of Stephen Gillies and Kate Jones each produce a diverse range of hand-made vessels and objects, using blown hot glass and cold cutting and polishing techniques to create extremely different effects.

London-based Michael Ruh was born in the United States and has exhibited in America, Germany, Holland and Belgium and was awarded a Setting Up Grant by the Crafts Council in 2003.

Amanda Notarianni has worked independently since 1998 and her work is held by public collections, including Liverpool Museums and Galleries and Sunderland University.

Suresh Dutt received the Adrian Sassoon Award in 2003 and works from his studio in Bedford, producing sculptural vessels from blown glass, which are precision cut and highly polished.

Meanwhile, Stephen Gillies and Kate Jones, of Gillies Jones, began their careers in Stourbridge, before setting up a studio practice in North Yorkshire, with commissions including a series for the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

More than 100 pieces of glass are on show (and for sale) at the Bowness Arts and Crafts house, and can be bought through the National Art Purchase Plan, a scheme designed to encourage the purchase of contemporary art and craft through interest free credit loans on works between £100 and £2,000.

Blackwell is open daily from 10.30am-5pm, closing at 4pm during November and December.

For further details, contact 015394-46139 or visit www.blackwell.org.uk Elsewhere in the Lakeland Arts Trust empire, Walter Richard Sickert: the Human Canvas exhibition, has one more week to go at Kendal's Abbot Hall Art Gallery, featuring 43 paintings, including major loans from both public and private collections and many of Sickert's most important works.

It runs until October 30. For further details, contact 01539-722464.