I am a freelance glass engraver and designer. I was taught drill and copper wheel glass engraving by Peter Dreiser at Morley College, Lambeth and continue to explore these techniques at my workshop in Clerkenwell. Working with clear or colour-cased glass, mostly blown to my design by Neil Wilkin, my subject matter ranges widely from natural history to the modern urban landscape.
Wheel engraving on glass does not need to be traditional in style or content. My work is becoming less figurative, more focused on the properties of the glass and the action of specific wheel engraving marks, drawing the eye beyond the surface, into the glass where refraction develops further possibilities. The result is, in my opinion, more original and more satisfying. Glass engraving is no longer taught in UK universities. Teaching at workshops within the Guild of Glass Engravers and the Contemporary Glass Society, I aim to keep this beautiful, highly skilled technique alive for another generation, before it is lost for ever.
I am particularly excited to have been selected for the second stage jury of the Coburg Glass Prize. The two pieces submitted are large glass bowls, inspired by my work in Japan.
Awards
- Crafts Council Mission to Japan 2005, funded selected member
- The Adrian Sassoon Prize for The Arts of the Kiln, awarded at Week One of the 2004 Chelsea Crafts Fair
- Runner-up Prize for Art on Glass Award by the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London 2004
June 2004 awarded 1 month residency at Northlands Glass Centre at Lybster, Scotland by Jerwood Foundation - Crafts Council Outward Mission to Japan 2004, funded participant
- finalist, The Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2003, awarded for glass every five years by the Jerwood Foundation at the Crafts Council
- awarded Runner-up Prize for Art on Glass Award by the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London 2002
Work in Collections
- Broadfield House Glass Museum, Kingswinford
- Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum
- Glass Museum at Kamenicky Senov, Czech Republic
- Keatley Trust
- Northlands Creative Glass Centre, Lybster, Caithness
- Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Image credits (from left): Edo Orange II, 2005 , Blue Nautilus, 2004, Grey Fishbowls, 2005
Katharine Coleman
Glass
Unit 19 Craft Central, Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DP
T: +44 (0)7976 812 660
Contact: Katharine Coleman
katharine@katharinecoleman.co.uk