Exhibition
Highlights from New Designers 2011
This CGS Exhibition highlights 12 glass students who will graduate this year and informs us of the multifaceted approach that these students take to their personal expression in glass. Every summer, New Designers helps thousands of graduates to launch their career at the spectacular Business Design Centre in London. The New Designers website can be viewed at: http://www.newdesigners.com This exhibition was launched on the 27th of July 2011.
AvidsMaterials used: glass, concrete, found objects;This pieces are abstract representation of an imaginary creature living in the future. The work is about the grey destiny of the Earth and is a symbol of my protest against consumerism and contamination nowadays. However the hope is still present in the last green plants and clean water.
Humans Need Not ApplyMaterials/techniques: A series of 4 slumped 12mm float glass animal masks bolted down on salvaged wooden backdrops with graffiti style imagery and found objects.With this piece I challenge the impact of human dominance over animals regarding their place and function in an urban environment.
This is piece is called Dandanan and is made from engraved fired, flashed glass, metal washers, jewellery wire and ribbon. I also made another piece that is a glass dress called Pisca-Pisca, made from the same components as Dandanan plus black jersey material. My influences and inspiration come from travelling the world and experiencing different cultures and environments. My work encompasses pattern, repetition, texture and colours that I have encountered and I have an innate connection to.Body adornment is the main focus of this project; to celebrate the human form. Covering the body in glass adds elegance and extravagance. I want to take the beauty of glass and make it portable, to embellish myself entirely with glass and make it wearable and functional. I wish to explore the unconscious and intuitive decisions that I make in terms of appearance and decoration of the body. What is it about these themes of pattern, colour, texture and repetition that are so appealing to me.
Graffiti Ring, 2011Materials Used: Soft Glass, Silver Leaf, Fine SilverThis piece was made by lampworking soda lime glass around a fine silver ring shank. The graffiti colours were achieved by repeatedly striking the glass in the flame. Silver leaf was burnished into the glass to give it the stoney appearance. It was then annealed in the kiln to remove thermal stresses.
Terraced II Materials: Kiln cast glass, copper, wood and moss Terraced II was part of a larger collection of work to appear at New Designers 2011. Josh’s practice is concerned with the relationship between the built and natural environment. He communicates ideas by juxtaposing architectural forms cast in glass with found animal remains, growing matter and felled/coppiced timber. The materials, form, colour pallet and composition are informed by a variety of architectural influences including; local buildings, tree-houses, vernacular construction, sustainable architecture and furniture design.
I am fascinated by the fundamental need that we all have to make connections with one another. My work explores the complexity of the resulting relationships and the connections that we create. My Connections series aims to make tangible these relationships between individuals. Two sculptural forms interact and converse with each other, one being bone china, the other glass. Simple, solid glass forms convey the power of these relationships. Bone china forms convey the fragile and complex nature of these connections. The work intends to strip away the complexity to something simple in form and subtle in combination. In 'Longing’ - a fragile, complex, bone china egg is enveloped by a simple, solid glass form. It expresses the maternal connection; the longing that stems from the regret when time grows short and also the anticipation of one yet to be born.
Dimmensions: 20x10x10cm AURA SERIES My work explores the paradox of a form of beauty having dark connotations. After studying images of microscopic life forms, I became increasingly fascinated with viruses. I found them extraordinarily beautiful, both in their startling complexity of structure and the vibrant colours displayed in the images. The juxtaposition between something so stunning and potentially deadly astounded and troubled me.......My desire has been to represent cell-like forms in which to contain the essence of the viral images.
Look carefully and you can almost hear the leaves of the rose bush rustle in the breeze, while the little birds' hearts pound with exhilaration and the joy life. One imagines the bird on the nest with a brood of chicks under her as she is observed by her partner in the branches just above. Hence the name of this piece is 'Avian Madonna' and it measures 40 cm x 20 cm x 17 cm. It resides in the collection of the artist.The shade is made of glass that has been Kiln Formed, Painted, Cold Worked and assembled using the Copper Foil Technique. It is highly textured and the over all effect is very three-dimensional.The stand was Woven from Copper Rods and Wire. The woven copper structure is very strong while managing to appear light due to the filigree effect of the weaving. This in turn echoes the filigree in the shade which was incorporated for the same reason - to give an airy lightness to the piece.
Records of Humanity 020Materials used: Soda lime glass grit, silver, porcelien and steel stand
Precious Integrations series.Sara Fell a recent glass graduate from Plymouth College of Art produced an outstanding body of work that displayed a sophisticated and elegant style. She was also awarded the Contemporary Glass Society's New Designers Associate Prize. Sara Fell has an enquiring mind, never content with being either a jewellery designer or a glass artist; my work is often a collaboration of both skills with a conceptual twist.The 'Precious Integrations' series is a celebration of the 'High Altar' of femininity and of the ritual beautifciation that forms the esssence of the dressing table. This series is a continuation of my intrigue in to the hidden and precious elements of jewellery, why do we hide away what we perceive to be our most treasured possessions?" Taking inspiration form glass Dressing Table Sets of the 1920's I bestow a contemporary take on them by integrating 'hidden' elements of jewellery.The Perfume Bottle hides a ring the Powder Puff Box a neckpiece and the Trinket Box a bangle. No set is what it first appears to be."
Seduction of TrainersSeduction of Trainers and it is Hand Blown overlayed glass. Below is the description that went along with the body of work.In this body of work I have been exploring the themes of seduction and obsession within consumer behaviour, with particular relation to fashion. I am drawn in by specific footwear, as I love the vibrant colours and textured materials. I like the strong dynamic lines that are contrasted with slick curves to create beautifully designed objects whilst paying the up most attention to combinations of plastics, suede and leathers. It is these attributes of footwear that I have been inspired by.From using the aesthetic elements of particular footwear, I have extracted different colour combinations, patterns and textures that I have transferred into glass. This body of work involves overlaying layers of colour and carving back through these layers. I have been using diamond and stone wheels to carve deep, which in turn changes the overall form, but also reveals the colours beneath. I found that using opaque colours with transparent/vibrant colours on the inside aids the concept of seduction as it is revealing inner, attractive qualities in the glass, but not showing them all.
Cluster WrapGlass and Stainless Steel.This piece comes from the Wrapping collection, which looks at the combination of two materials. I use lampworking techniques to manipulate the glass around the metal, celebrating the contrast between the fluidity of glass and the rigidity of metal. This research has developed because of a love of glass, alongside a passion for jewellery, enabling the combination of the two.The pieces within this range are challenges to the wearability of glass jewellery, and reversing the combination of two materials, that is, where a metal setting is usually formed to enclose a glass piece, instead I use glass to hold together the metal, exposing the glass instead of surrounding it. I wish to push the boundaries of the fragility of glass, allowing the glass to shape the outcome of the piece, not allowing the fragility to become an influencing factor. I want my work to be a celebration of what glass can be, the variety of forms and shapes that can be created with it. I love to use glass because of it�s clarity and the element of fragility that comes with working with such a material.