Working from a small hideaway studio on a hillside in west Wales I am surrounded by the most wonderful inspiration. I step out of the studio to gather hawthorn, oak and ivy leaves to encase in glass; I look up and spot a pair of ravens skyfalling in dazzling sunlight; I look down and gaze through the reflective surface of the pond to the life teeming in the layers beneath.
Studio open to visitors all year, by appointment. Also open every Saturday 10-4 from Easter to October.
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See my Instagram account for pictures of most recent work and work in progress: maureen.charles.52
During 2021 I started selling my glass at the Lux Gallery in Edgbaston, Birmingham – https://luxgallery.co.uk.
Selling Glass and Silver Jewellery and decorative items at the Haddenham Arts Centre 20 High Street Haddenham, near Ely Cambridgeshire.
Selling Glass and Silver Jewellery, Cambridge tourist related and decorative items at the Museum of Cambridge, 2-3 Castle Street Cambridge.
She creates energetic, exuberant and vital sculptural forms in hot glass. Considered a colourist by fellow glass artists her works are carefully crafted to incorporate many colours and textures creating unique artworks that delight the viewer.’My work is fairly organic in nature. Most of my works initially come from harnessing a moment in time within my own history. This may be as simple as witnessing ink slowly being dispersed through water or the memory of the flicker of a fire bursting to life. In my most recent work the pieces have become an artistic impression of a recent visit to Africa, which relates to my interest into ethnic adornment, textiles and the relationships between people. Often my work involves two or more key elements as I try to create interaction between forms, indicative to human relationships’
To view North Lands 2020 Professional Programme visit our website for more information.
Piotr Frac works with traditional methods but uses modern imagery to create his
designs, drawing inspiration from Japanese art and iconography, tattooing, and street art.
I create objects of beauty that allude to the natural world, researching structural and decorative elements that combine the organic with the geometric. The Icelandic Collection focuses on Iceland’s otherworldly and elemental landscape, vivid, jewel-like colours and dynamic contrasts. The Anglia Collection, developed during the lockdown celebrates the beauty, colour, and light of British spring and summertime. I translate the landscape into glass, being drawn to the medium’s unique materiality and fluidity. I create rich textural surfaces meticulously arranging frits to build up shade, colour, and tone, like a painter forming a painting, focusing on pattern, abstraction, and mark-making.
‘For a Man of Substance’, 2014 (See http://www.impotenttools.co.uk/gallery for details).
Currently working some pieces inspired by William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement – Having previously worked with concepts of masculine and feminine values in objects of luxury, I wanted to turn my focus to the nature of craft. William Morris’ work was a particular inspiration for these pieces. His work encapsulates the beauty and value of traditional craftsmanship, which “with the onset of the industrial revolution …. began to suffer an irreversible decline” (G. Adamson, ‘The Craft Reader’, 2010). As an artist and in particular a craftsman, I strongly believe that craft should be integral to any creative process and the value within a handmade object cannot be replicated as a mass produced commodity. Photos of work in development available upon request. Please email me at rosie@impotenttools.co.uk
Greenhouse: large external art installation in a new PFI hospital in Manchester; The Central Manchester University Hospitals. Screen printed glass and steel.Arlington: internal artwork over two walls in the reception of the newly refurbished Arlington House in London. Dichroic glass and gold leaf.Ice Cube: commissioned by Argent Developers for Piccadilly Place, Manchester. Large scale external glass facias with hand drawn embellishment.Poetry Discs: external interactive artwork set into a waterfall. Winning competition entry for Piccadilly Place, Manchester. Commissioned by Argent Developers.
Max also provided glass making expertise, courses and workshops facilitates, clients and organisations include most noatably, Alexander McQueen (London Fashion Week), Thomas Heatherwick (Welcome Trust), Matt Durram (shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize).
Max has vast experience in teaching and providing workshops for a diverse range of organisations and clients, from beginners workshops to advanced courses for artists and designers, in addition to teaching students from foundation to post-graduate at leading UK Art and Design Universities.
I work with both Cast and Fused Glass, with the use of metal inclusions, Pewter, Bronze, Silver and Brass. Combining these materials has been intrinsic in my work, pushing the boundaries of both materials. The excitement of breaking open a mould and revealing the unpredictable.