Glass burst of personality
- Bethany is a glass artist
- She is a founder of the UK-based Blowfish Glass artist collective
- She combines glassmaking with painting to create her objects
Self-expression has always fascinated Bethany Wood and she has found her medium in glassmaking. “Glass mimics my existing mental state. The texture and the movements made onto the vessels are a direct expression,” says the artisan. Today Bethany is a bright star of the craft as well as a founder of the Blowfish Glass artist collective that promotes glassmaking in the UK. Her inspiration is drawn from urban and rural landscapes, travel and the abstract. She strives to project the serendipity of abstraction onto glass as a canvas. Bethany works with molten glass to create composition and texture upon a vessel, with particular joy in colour schemes. She has been making glassware since the mid-2010s and her objects can be purchased in galleries.
Interview
- When and how did you actually start?
- I started by working at Anthony Wassel’s studio in Matlock in return for workshop access. Today I work from a hybrid hotshop and gallery space which my partner Elliot Walker (also a glass artist) and I began to build and refurbish in November 2021.
- How do you express tradition and innovation in your work?
- The tools used to create my work are replicas of the tools that were used by the very first glass craftsmen. Handmade, handheld, and forged steel tools. I innovate by creating modern and contemporary designs.
- What do you suggest to young people who want to follow this path?
- I would suggest getting sponsorship to travel around the world working in multiple workshops. Find a style – whether it be sculptural, functional, affordable, or high-end – to create a focus, and stick to it.
- What do you love the most about glassmaking?
- I chose this craft because the colours, textures, forms, techniques, and patterns seem to be endless. You can express your thoughts and personality with hot glass in so many ways, shapes and forms. There is rhythm and adrenaline in glassmaking, within a routine that is planned very carefully.
Bethany Wood is a rising star: she began her career in 2017 and she started teaching in 2020
Where
Bethany Wood
