Jeremy Langford (sculptor)

Jeremy Langford (Born London, England, 1956) is a British/Israeli glass sculptor and designer. He is the son of British/Israel television director and producer Barry Langford. His artistic specialties are monumental size stacked glass sculpture, architectural glass, and stained glass. His artwork is internationally known and he has been commissioned around the world in the creation of glass art for governments, private residences, corporations, hotels, and religious organizations. Major works of his include monumental glass installations at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the ancient tomb of the Matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem, three massive sculptures for the Trump International Towers at Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, and the new Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jerusalem. He travels internationally for projects, his studio being based in Israel.

Personal life and professional career

Jeremy Langford was born in London, England in 1956, moving later Melbourne, Australia at the age of 13. His first experiences in experimenting with glasswork followed two year later, melting bottles in an old ceramic kiln, using the raw material to make his first stained glass works. He moved back to the U.K. at the age of 18 and became a glass artist apprentice where he acquired the glassmaking techniques and skill sets he would use as a foundation in his later artistic works. Langford’s belief is that, “Just as a musician trains in classical music, he can then diversify and enter any musical field I feel that, with such training in traditional glassmaking techniques, I can stretch the limits and even go wildly off the established path of traditional glass working.”

Establishing himself with a studio in London in the mid-1970s, his time was divided between the U.K. and Israel while he further developed his glass art skills. During this time he began experimenting with stacked sculptural glass. Finely honing this skill, Langford has used it in the past few years in the creation of several monumental glass sculptures around the world.

Langford’s projects are featured in a number of US cities. They include three monumental sculptures in the Trump International Towers at Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and a sculpture in the Miami Four Seasons Hotel. His glasswork can also be seen at a number of public buildings in New York, California, and a number of private residences in Los Angeles and New York City. Other artistic works have been installed in several important synagogues.

Among the best-known of Jeremy Langford’s projects is the Chain of Generations Center, a heritage center at Jerusalem’s Western Wall created in 2006. Extending down into the catacombs at the edge of the Western Wall, the site features a large and dramatic collection of glass sculptures that document the history of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present day. The project was partly funded by Mortimer Zuckerman, US media magnate. The sculptural glass artwork there features uniquely carved and etched layers of plate glass, which required nearly 150 tons of glass to create. The project received the illustrious Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association (The Disney Corporation)as the “Outstanding Heritage Center worldwide 2008”.

Recently, Langford has focused on making studio glass, creating sculptures for private collectors and art museums. He is also widely acclaimed for his work in the creation of glass art and stained glass for synagogues and private homes.

Langford sees a connection between his art and spirituality, and compares the physical material of glass to the state of seeking a spiritual dimension: “As a person on a spiritual path seeks to refine themselves, working in glass mirrors this process. Glass begins as sand, a lifeless substance. Though a process of heat and pressure, it becomes a bright, light-transmitting, elastic material; transparent but with defined boundaries and borders.”

Artistic works

• The Supreme Court Building, Jerusalem

• Residence of the President of Israel, Jerusalem

• The Western Wall Tunnels, Old City, Jerusalem

• The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Jerusalem

• Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

• Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv

• British Museum, London

• Hilton Hotel, Mayfair, London

• Trump International Towers, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

• Four Seasons Hotel, Miami

Kabbalah and spirituality

Alongside his professional work Langford has studied Ashlagian Kabbalah and Jewish spiritual teachings since 1977. Seeking an authentic Kabbalah Master he became a full-time student of Rabbi Baruch Ashlag in 1984 until his teachers demise on September 13, 1991. He founded and heads the Ashlag Heritage Foundation in Israel and is working on a comprehensive website of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag's teachings that features a full search engine of Ashlagian Kabbalisitc teachings.

In 1995 he founded- together with his late wife Yael- Galim: The Human Potential Institute. HPI is a center devoted to utilizing techniques to develop peak performance states based on Neuro-science research.

Langford is also trained in Classical Homeopathy, natural medicine and is an expert on the use of sound in order to facilitate changed and beneficial states of consciousness. The main tool he uses to study and experience higher states of consciousness is the isolation tank (floatation tank). He has been known to do extended float sessions in order to tap into his own creativity.

Family

Jeremy Langford’s original surname was Lelyveld, his family being natives of the Netherlands. Langford is related to Joseph Lelyveld, an editor of the New York Times newspaper, and Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, a civil rights activist. Jeremy Langford’s great grandfather was a royal court entertainer in the United Kingdom (specializing in whistling) who served in the court of King Edward VII and opened the soap factory Sloman’s. Langford’s father, Barry Langford (b. London, England, 1926) was the BBC producer and director who created the first pop-music shows for the BBC network and directed many, including the Tom Jones Show. Barry Langford worked with the Beatles and Rolling Stones, discovered David Bowie, and briefly managed Tom Jones and P.J. Proby.

Jeremy married Yael Langford (née Itach), an Israeli scientist who specialized in quantum chemistry and the relationship between brainwaves and consciousness. They had five children together. The couple was involved together in a beta project involving the connection between art, brainwaves, and consciousness. Yael Langford died on September 15, 2009.

Bibliography

-Mel Byars, “A Letter from Jerusalem: The Chain of Generations,” Art+Auction, February 2006.

-Jeremy Langford, “Chambers of History,” ‘’Faith & Form, the Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture’’, vol. 39, no. , 2006. | ISSN 0014-7001

-“The New Chain of Generations in Jerusalem,” ‘’Neue Glas/New Glass’’, summer 2006 (2/06). USPS no. 011-475

-“Commissions: Jeremy Langford, the Western Wall Glass Sculpture Project, Jerusalem, Israel,” ‘’Sculpture’’, vol. 25, no. 7, September 2006.

References

1 - * The Western Wall Glass Sculpture Project, Jerusalem - http://english.thekotel.org/

2 - * Jeremy Langford's Website - http://www.jeremylangford.com