Email:Laura.mckinley@network.rca.ac.uk

Website:http://www.lauramckinley.co.uk

Region:Greater London

World country:United Kingdom

Country:United Kingdom

County:Other

Laura Mckinley

Laura discovered, and studied glass at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University, graduating in 2008. After a two month session at Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, that same year she went on to work at LoCo Glass, gaining a scholarship to create work for the Fresh Air Sculpture Show in 2010. She began working at London Glassblowing shortly afterwards until receiving a place and full scholarship to study at The Royal College of Art in London in 2016. In 2018 Laura graduated with her MA in Ceramics and Glass at The Royal College of Art and a year later co-founded a glass studio in Camberwell, London, with three fellow graduates. This year - 2023 - Laura joined a work colleague and friend in starting a new glass blowing studio in Woolwich, London.

Laura’s fascination for glass as a creative medium stems from its capacity to constantly alter her initial thoughts and expectations. The spontaneity of the hot material demands instant visual judgments that give rise to shifts in her ideas. These allow her to make tangible her explorations of volume, scale and the random interplay of forms. Serendipity and the unexpected often point the way to the next starting point for making.
Laura’s most recent works are inspired by the imagination of children. A small object held in a child’s hand can become a car, skyscraper, or even a planet. Laura’s interest in play and the inviting qualities of glass are strong motifs throughout her work. Using hot glass she is directly contradicting the fragile material in which the objects are created by inviting engagement and interaction, at the same time, exploring form, texture and the illusion of space, evoking a childlike intrigue.

Compose , Alick Cotterill