Art of glass

Probably best described as a body of sculptural work which I've been constructing using found objects. This project is born out of my habitual tendency towardsbeachcombing. In particular, this tendency to collect objects of interest from the shoreline around Hampshire. The pebbles and mud around Southampton Water, the RiverHamble and Portsmouth Harbour where I most often gobeachcombing are rich sources of human rubbish. And within me there resides that childish tendency to pick up and then like a magpie, to want to keep and hoard all of the curious objects that I find.

Everything that sparkles and shines, everything unusual, or things that become repetitive and collectable… glass and pottery, tiles, rope, cigarette lighters, toys, bones, fossils, and when I’m lucky… clay-pipes or stone-age tools. Therefore, within this work there is an element of indulging that inner child who would have been told, “No, you can't bring that home! Throw it away!”. So that as an adult, I've given myself permission - and space in my garage - to bring those things home, to collect, to sort, to esteem and value - to reuse and recycle. The glass has been a natural and obvious material to work with because of its inherent beauty, tactility, translucency and form. Sometimes the shapes of the broken fragments have inspired the works, or sometimes the works have developed organically or experimentally.