The glass becomes an alternative canvas upon which I illustrate my subjects. Having trained as a sculptor and now with a long history in glass, participating in an international arena, I feel this to be a natural medium of choice to convey themes from commentaries on political issues to personal narratives to which we can all relate. The vessel becomes the framework to support the paintings and a collage of patterns and personal symbols. Constructing the vessel through the amalgamation of historical techniques, I aim to create a new way of assembling the form to allow for imagery to stay prominent. I have spent the last seven years developing and researching the process of painting, fusing and blowing hand rolled sheet glass with the intention of finding a way to express my observations and response to the world around me. ‘Just as cathedral stained glass windows venerate saints or tell biblical stories and serve to inspire the masses, the painted images in Chaseling’s vessels commemorate the people and the transient moments of everyday life’-Kirrily Hammond, Contained narrative. 2006. Currently the techniques are derived from those similar to the Italian glass made through the murrine or cane process, though differ significantly as I use sheet glass as the foundation allowing for a tighter structure more variable design. Constructing blown forms without the use of a furnace, freeing oneself from the burden of expensive facilities, has allowed me to develop a more considered and conceptual approach. The time of making is labour intensive though meditative, allowing for the ideas not to be dominated from the pressure of making. Presently a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Sunderland with the intention to further push the construction of my work to enable a clearer reading and build upon the combining of centuries-old glassmaking traditions and a contemporary graphic sensibility. The introduction of more techniques will allow these themes to come through the material and the narrative to become more dominant. The new work evolving from being in the North East and on the coast reflects its serenity, its history and the awareness of developing the future.
A change of gears
Now or
The passing
What goes around
