An amazing experience at The Glass Hub Summer school in Wiltshire. A full on programme of learning new processes and grappling with new and sometimes fierce equipment. Building a relationship with glass in its cold and molten form was challenging. Glass comes with an inherent warning of harm, yet it is mesmerizingly beautiful with qualities I hadn’t anticipated.
When blowing glass, one’s breath is captured in a ‘gather of molten glass and the process of working around this is a kind of tough love with the constant risk of falling away or shattering.
Appreciating the symbolism while managing the immediate actions necessary to hold the form through the processes was stretching. It is a highly skilled process and we were assisted through it by the Glass Hub team on the hottest days of the year thus far.
My initial area of interest was the casting of glass and I worked quickly to fashion a clay statuette, a bust. A learning curve here again as with each process there are technical restraints. However the amber piece that eventually emerged from the plaster and flint mould has potential, holding light, brittleness and vulnerability in it’s form.
I was most engaged with glass etching, using sand blasting, drawing within my comfort zone and I love the quality of opaque and transparent glass. We had a master class with Ruth Dresman, which was amazing, very excited to convey themes of fragility in glass. With Glass fusion I wanted to work with both an abstract collage of colour and drawing formed with wire, all melded in the same form.
I am researching opportunities to further my journey with glass and in my home studio exploring ways to combine glass with ceramic. With huge gratitude to the Glass Hub team, my fellow ‘Glass Hubbers’ and Arts Council England for funding my place.
