Archives: Artists

My interest in play and the inviting qualities of glass are strong motifs throughout my work. Using hot glass I am directly contradicting the delicate and 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. The play of light and shadow and the optical qualities of solid glass evoke a childlike intrigue.

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.

An element of Laura’s inspiration is the Italian technique, Incalmo, the joining together, whilst still hot, of two separately blown glass bubbles to form one piece. When cold, the fluidity of these objects is interrupted by cutting to expose voids which enable the viewer to see both the internal and exterior spaces. The varying thickness of glass and polished angled surfaces create ever-changing effects of light and shadow, a characteristic that is exploited to create an environment of illusion. Laura’s work is an invitation to engage with the tranquil beauty of the incidental.

I work mainly in warm glass exploring colour and form together with pattern, texture and chemical reactions. My vessels usually have different interiors and exteriors but a relationship between both is maintained. I have also worked in hot glass exploring the depth, patterns and shapes possible within a paperweight.

The image on the left is ‘Timeless: All Bar One’ which exemplifies automated and physical worlds, contrasting technology in the form of barcodes and identity, resting on a bog oak wooden plinth. It marries the new with the old with each medium displaying different facets of time.

In 2012, while very new to glass, Linda won the international Warm Glass Prize awarded by Bullseye Glass Company in USA, and in 2013 she won the Adrian Henri poetry in Art Prize for her sculpture, ‘Her House is Air’. She has gone on to be awarded a number of bursaries for her work in glass, these include awards from the Arts Council of Wales, a-n Artist’s Information Company, The Worshipful Company of Painters and Stainers of Glass and The Eaton Fund. She has exhibited her work in a number of exhibitions including The British Glass Biennale 2015 and 2017, London Glassblowing Gallery, The Waterfront Gallery, Swansea and, in 2019, Glasrijk Festival of Glass in The Netherlands. Last year, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Linda curated Never Done, an exhibition of work by women artists from Japan, New York, Shetland and UK. In 2016 Linda was invited to the American Glass Guild Conference in Florida to present her work and run a workshop. Linda has undertaken a number of site specific commissions including one for The Contemporary Art Society of Wales at Narberth Museum, and for Strata Florida Abbey in Ceredigion. In 2017 she formed an architectural glass partnership with Rachel Phillips and together they have completed commissions including making windows for Conwy and Beaumaris Castles in North Wales, and, in 2019 an installation of mirrored glass for The Church of St Michael and All Saints, Blewbury, Oxfordshire. Linda and Rachel have recently installed new work in Caernarfon Castle, North Wales. In 2024 Linda initiated the formation of Broken Home Collective, s group of women artists who work with glass and are committed to using their creative voices to illuminate social and political injustice.

Linda’s ‘Marbellous’ light shade was shown at the prestigious ‘New Glass – Ancient Skill, Contemporary Artform’ exhibition at Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House. This piece was made specifically to complement the Arts and Crafts surroundings of Blackwell. It uses the copper foil technique and contains over 700 individual pieces, including 1kg of marbles.