BETHANY WOOD
Cluster Exhibitor | Cluster Crafts | 2022
Molten Miniature ORE | 2022
'Bethany Wood, founder and director of Blowfish Glass, an artist-led, hybrid gallery and hot shop. A design graduate from De Montfort, specialising in glass making. Bethany has focussed the previous 6 years developing skills by working for renowned glass makers across the country. Bethany launched her own collection of work ‘Molten Landscapes’ 2 years ago and exhibits her Moltens with high end galleries and interior designers internationally, having most recently completed an installation project for ‘Wonder of the Seas’ the world's biggest cruise ship.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Bethany has begun to merge her two artistic passions, painting and Glass making to create a series of Molten Landscapes.
“I have extracted the colours and compositions from my coastal photography/paintings and have executed them within my new series of Molten Landscapes, titled ‘Rock extract’.
Metal and mineral extracts play a particularly important part in creating glass colour, the metallic colours in my collection represent the metals which can be extracted from rock. Conceptually the healing properties of stones/rocks can also bring a sense of peace & calmness which is very apt in my mindset with developing this collection.”
Molten Landscape ORE | 2022
Molten Landscape SEQUOIA | 2022
“I like to express myself with the fluidity of the material. The directional arrangement of a colour palette can form the depth of an abstract Landscape. I use my own paintings as a reference whilst making my Moltens in the hot shop. Each individual artwork from my series has been inspired by a specific place.”
EXHIBITED AT CLUSTER CRAFTS 2020
“If I was not an artist, I would have been a performer. I chose glass, which I do believe is a performance of art; both disciplines create the same energy. There is rhythm and adrenaline in glass making, within a routine that is planned very carefully.”
Molten Landscapes
Taking inspiration from a wide range of sources, my influences are taken directly from the world around us, elements of the inner-city sit alongside expansive landscapes. Reoccurring themes are Graffiti & Urban Culture, exploration & travel.
An equal passion for painting physically inspires how I control and manipulate the glass.
The directional arrangement of a colour palette can form the depth of an abstract Landscape. I use my own paintings as a reference whilst making them in the hot shop. Each individual artwork from my series has been inspired by a specific place.
Serendipity of abstraction has always been an inspiration for me; the coincidental elements which catch the eye of the viewer. The palette, composition and depth I have attained are taken from nature, with a bold but elegant swipe of my own personal, expressionist style.