News and stories from a British glass artist
I like cats, and I have a particular fondness for Schrödinger's. I often invoke this famous feline as a way of taming my anxiety about something that might or might not happen. Standing with my sister in Cophenhagen airport in 1999 after a long trip, waiting for the interminable trundle of the conveyor belt to …
For a few years, I've been trying to understand and recreate a historic gem often know as the Essex Crystal. In 2020 I was awarded an Arts Council 'Developing Your Creative Practice' Grant to really get to grips with it. I was interested in adapting modern glass casting techniques, glass engraving, enamel painting and gilding …
When I started out with my Essex Crystal Project, a few people, whose opinion I really value, said that I should concentrate on making the figures more convincingly naive. Even though I value what these people think, I found myself absolutely not wanting to make my figures more naive, and it's taken me a while …
I've been working on translating the engraving and painting skills I've learned recently into my Essex Crystal Project. It's been quite a journey, and at every stage has made me more appreciative of the skills of the artists who work in these techniques. Thanks to my Developing Your Creative Practice Award, earlier this year I …
One of the joys of working at home is the immersive soundscape provided by garden birds. Blackbirds, pigeons, blue, great and long-tailed tits, starlings, sparrows and goldfinches all contribute to the cacophany that forms the backdrop to my work. And oh the goldfinches. According to the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch they have had a particularly …
Companions, or Self Portait with Budgie: I had a budgie as a child. It lived in my room and would nestle against my neck and nibble my ear. I loved that budgie My Essex Crystal Project presents a sort of personal mythology. It combines fragments of family snaps, strange creatures and classical references into strange …
Continue reading "Essex Crystal Project – the work and the stories"
DIY imagery and opening up to new techniques
AA2A, Essex crystals and building a sustainable creative practice
Victoria Scholes 