Archives: Artists

I make front-lit hangings displaced from the wall, which allows reflection and shadow to create a relief of light on the wall behind.My work is inspired by the natural environment. I aim to give voice to the glass.Techniques: painting,acid-etching, sandblasting, fusing, slumping..;

My work is strongly influenced by living near the River Thames, by nature and the lovely Cotswolds countryside. I love to use the qualities of glass to represent the sea and water. I also make glass beach huts and houses, flower panels and special commissions. Most recently I have made pieces which are on sale at Kelmscott Manor.

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.

My current project, Material Traces, is a creative investigation of how, as humans, we have adapted and transformed our environment using its natural resources for cultural expression, industry and development. It is inspired by the discovery of a Bronze Age burial urn on Skokholm Island in 2021. Through the lens of silica, both as glass and as glaze on ceramic, I will creatively investigate how, as humans, we have adapted and transformed our environment using its natural resources for cultural expression, industry and development. The project examines the impact of early human intervention on the landscape from the earliest detectable human traces and its continued impact today.