Welcome to my exhibition. As it is set up in my front room, I will be asking all visitors to wear a face mask and sanitise their hands in line with current Government Guidelines. These may well change as they have a habit of moving the goal posts, in which case I will be changing my guidelines in accordance with theirs. That’s the boring bit over.
Having been unable to open last year it will be a pleasure to welcome visitors back this year. On display, I will have as many of my pieces as possible without it being too overcrowded!
Much of my art is inspired by nature and flowers are a particular love of mine. The challenge of recreating them in glass either in 2D, as a picture, or 3D, as garden art, is exciting. I have a range of large and small garden art flowers – poppies, daisies, lilies and buttercups which can be “planted” in your garden and provide colour all year round. I also have several botanical pictures of flowers. In addition, this year I have some bright flower decorations to hang in your window to provide all year round colour and some stand alone flowers which have their own wooden stands and would cheer up any windowsill.
The beautiful sunsets we have had of late inspired my latest pendant collection which I am particularly proud of. My favourite ones being in the purples although the orange hues come a very close second. Each pendant is constructed of three layers of glass and requires two to three kiln firings to complete but remains elegant. To this collection I have added seascape pendants which capture the essence of holidays to come.
I will also be showing various dishes and platters which I have made in a range of wonderful bold and vibrant colours. These come under the useful and useless (display only!) categories but always bring joy. They range in size from small ring dishes of approximately 8cm x 8cm to large round bowls with a diameter of approximately 29cm and all sizes and shapes in between. They can be used for a variety of functional purposes or to bring colour to a room.
I will be showing framed glass pictures some of which are botanical and others abstract but again the colours and tactile nature set them apart. There will also be candle holders and lanterns suitable for indoor or outdoor entertainment which would brighten up any table.
My exhibition this year will include a range of beautiful decorous vases in a variety of colours – perfect for your spring flowers or they would make great gifts. They are approximately 12cm high and come in a range of colours from greens to purples, orange to red and would look stunning on anyone’s mantlepiece. Each one is unique.
In my textile range this year I have various washbags in pretty fabrics with waterproof linings, the ever popular wine cooler bags in a variety of colours, aprons in adult and child sizes and tote bags. A new addition this year are face masks. We all like to look different from everyone else!
I very much hope you will enjoy my display and I look forward to seeing you in May.
Having lived and worked in Oxford all my life and with my children leaving home I decided it was time to branch out and pursue my interests in crafts. I started with textiles which I have always been interested in and began creating bags and small items which I sold at craft fairs. I have made my own patterns for some of my bags and love the challenge of creating something that is fit for purpose and beautiful to look at.
I then decided to follow my interest in glass. I first became interested in glass after having seen glass artists at Art in Action in Waterperry. I did my first glass course in July 2014 with Siobhan Jones in Worthing which I loved. During a trip to Cornwall, I stumbled across a craft fair and a local artist was exhibiting her glassware and we got chatting. She told me she had started off with her first kiln in her dining room which made me think that anything was possible! I came home and converted my study to a studio and bought a kiln. Since then I have had a lot of fun experimenting.
I take a lot of inspiration from nature. Whilst on a walk, I will often stop and take a photo of a clump of flowers, an individual flower or a sunset to remind myself of the colours. I spend a lot of time walking across Port Meadow and during lockdown last year, I decided to try and recreate buttercups in glass. For those of you who know the meadow you will remember how it looked like a carpet of yellow at the beginning of the summer. It was a challenge to get the shape of the petals and convert them into a 3D flower head that resembled a buttercup but once I had done it, I then fixed them to “stalks” and put them in my own garden as garden art. From there I moved on to various other flowers – poppies, lilies and daisies. It is lovely when you can get some movement into the petals which brings them alive.
You will remember the fabulous sunsets we had earlier this year and from these I took inspiration from the boiling skies to make a series of sunset pendants which will be on display this year. To complement these I have also done some seascape pendants creating seabeds out of frit (small pieces of glass). These are very complex pieces despite their size, they involve at least two firings in the kiln if not three and take roughly 4-5 days to complete.
Although lockdown has been hard for us all, it has given me the time and space to experiment with different techniques and create gorgeous pieces in vibrant colours. The beauty of glass is the colours it comes in, the way it transmits light and the textures you can create. It is a very tactile medium. I have had fun “painting” with glass using glass frit and glass powders perhaps I should try and recreate Port Meadow this year as a glass picture. Watch this space!!