Katharine Coleman MBE
G L A S S E N G R A V E R
ABOUT THE ARTIST
contact details
in galleries and exhibitions
GALLERY
images + details
Awards
Work in public collections
Exhibitions
Videos & publications where work is illustrated
CV
Born in Sutton Coldfield 1949, I am a freelance glass engraver and designer. I was taught point, drill and copper wheel engraving on glass by Peter Dreiser at Morley College, Lambeth from 1984-7 and continue to explore these techniques at my workshop in Clerkenwell.
Engraving on blown clear lead crystal glass forms overlaid with a thin
skin of coloured glass on
the outer surface, my work requires close
collaboration with other artists who blow the glass for me to my design.
Potter Morgan Glass, Carl Nordbruch and Sonja Klingler currently make work for me. After annealing, the top surface of the glass is then
cut, ground and polished so that when the subsequent engravings on the
outside surface are viewed, it is also possible to see inside the piece,
with all the refractions of the outside repeated on the inner surface,
creating an illusion of one body floating inside another.
Wheel engraving on glass does not need to be traditional in style or content. I use traditional techniques, engraving the glass surface with lathe-mounted copper, diamond and stone wheels, preferring the crispness and fine finish associated with these techniques. I teach short courses in wheel and drill engraving on glass at workshops in the UK (Farnham UAC and West Dean, Chichester), at the Escuela Superior de la Fundación Centro Nacional del Vidrio at La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia in Spain and at BildWerk Frauenau in Germany.
The inspiration for my work ranges widely from natural history to the modern urban landscape. Recent work is inspired by the extraordinary flora and sea life of South Australia which I visited in 2006 and which formed the focus of my solo show at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh in June 2008 and a showcase at Contemporary Applied Arts in October 2008.
Awards
2009 MBE for services to glass engraving , New Years Honours List
2008 The Pearsons Prize for Best Use of Glass in Engraving , sponsored by Pearsons Glass Ltd and Ed Hoy's International, USA.
2008 Second Prize at a juried exhibition of work at the 5th International Symposium of Engraved Glass at Kamenicky Senov, Czech Republic, September 2008
2007 The Glass Sellers Prize for Engraving on Glass (a new prize)
May -June 2007 6 weeks Residency at Northlands Creative Glass Centre to explore forming and slumping glass with kilns at Lybster, Wick, Scotland, sponsored by The Scottish Arts Council and Bulls Eye Glass.
2006 Honorable Mention (prize), the Coburg Glass Prize 2006, Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Germany (see www.kunstsammlungen-coburg.de for more information)
2005 March Crafts Council exhibition and research visit to Japan : Surface, Structure, Shape at Axis Gallery, Tokyo funded participant
2004 Adrian Sassoon Award for The Arts of the Kiln, awarded at Chelsea Crafts Fair 2004
(see www.craftscouncil.org.uk report on Chelsea 2004)
2004 Runner-Up Prize for Art on Glass, awarded by The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London
June 2004 Month's Residency at Northlands Creative Glass Centre at Lybster, Wick, Scotland by The Jerwood Foundation
Crafts Council Outward Mission to Japan 2004, funded participant
2003, a finalist for The Jerwood Applied Arts Prize - Glass. This is awarded every five years for glass
2002 and 2004 Runner-Up Prize for Art on Glass, awarded by The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London
1986 Best First Time Exhibitor Trophy, The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London
Work in Collections
Alexander Tutsek Stiftung, Munich
Broadfield House Glass Museum, Kingswinford, Stourbridge
Keatley Trust
Birmingham City Art Gallery & Museum
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Keatley Trust)
Glass Museum, Kamenicky Šenov, Czech Republic
Dan Klein Associates (private)
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Germany
Museo
de la Real Fabrica de Cristales de La Granja, Spain
National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh
Northlands Creative Glass Centre, Lybster
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London
Exhibitions - see page Where Showing
Videos
and publications
where work is illustrated
Katharine Coleman, fenêtres sur cristal, feature by Thierry de Beaumont, la revue de la céramique et du verre,, no 169, Nov-Dec 2009, pp.52-55
Charles R Hajdamach: 20th Century British Glass , Antique Collectors Club, 2009
Carolyn Genders: Pattern, Colour & Form , A&C Black, London June, 2009
Vessels within Vessels, feature by Dan Klein, pp. 49-53 of Craft Arts International, 74 (publ. November 2008) Australia
Craft & Design (previously The Craftsman) magazine feature, pp.22-23, June/July 2007
Peter Dreiser and Jonathan Matcham: Techniques of Glass Engraving, 2nd edition, A&C Black London 2006
J Neiswander & Caroline Swash: The Intelligent Layman’s Stained & Art Glass, London 2005, ISBN 0 947798 65X
Reflections - a decade of North Lands Creative Glass, exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated, 77pp, North Lands Creative Glass, Quatre Bras, Lybster, Caithness KW3 6BN
British Glass Biennale 2006, exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated, 141pp, ISBN 0-9547573-1-9
Coburger Glaspreis 2006, exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated, 381pp, ISBN 3-87472-086-1
Made for You, DVD of six makers, all members of hte Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen, 2005 (see www.guildcrafts.org.uk)
Inspirations, interiors magazine feature, April 2005
21st Century British Glass, illustrated catalogue of the Dan Klein exhibition at Daniel Katz Gallery, Bond Street, London, January 2005 (ISBN 0 9545058 2 4)
Glashaus magazine, 4/2004 (ISSN 1435-8565 K49413), review of Heroes of the Wheel exhibition at Broadfield House Glass Museum by Gernot H.Merker, pp.4-5
July/Aug 2004 Crafts magazine feature by Ruth Pavey “Cutting It Fine”, 5 pages, illustrations, pp 30-35.
Glass Now profiling the eight finalists of the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2003, produced by Illuminations, VHS and PAL format video and DVD (details from www.illumin.co.uk or illuminations@illumin.co.uk
Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2003 – Glass exhibition catalogue, available from the Crafts Council, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY Tel: +44 (0)207 278 7700 ISBN Number: 1-903713-11-0
New Glass magazine, Autumn 2003, review of Jerwood Exhibition by Dan Klein
March 2003 review by Dan Klein in Crafts magazine of Guild of Glass Engravers' Cork St clearly inspired 2002 exhibition 2002, including illustration of work by KC.
Lettering on Glass by Charmian J Mocatta, published by A&C Black, 2002
British Studio Glass 1960 – 2000, published by Shire Books, 2002
New Glass Review 2001, slide selected for illustration.
T
& M Goodearl: International
Contemporary Engraved Glass, publ. by The Antique
Collectors Club, 1999, ISBN no.185149307 7
S & S Palmer: Glass Engraving – Drill Techniques, published by Batsford Press, 1988
Teaching
April 2008 four days at University College of the Creative Arts, Farnham, three dimensional design course, aiming to return to teach from time to time from November 2008.
July 2008 International Summer Academy "Bild-Werk Frauenau", in Bavaria, Germany
17 - 21 January 2009: Intaglio and Relief Engraving on Glass, a residential course at West Dean College, Chichester.
Feb-March 2009 five weeks of one-day courses at University College of the Creative Arts, Farnham, three dimensional design course.
May 2009: Unit of third year degree course at the Escuela Superior de Vidrios at San Ildefonso de La Granja, Segovia, Spain
5-8 March 2010 Glass Engraving with Colour, a residential course at West Dean College, Chichester.
7 - 23 July 2010 International Summer Academy "Bild-Werk Frauenau", in Bavaria, Germany
this page was last updated September 2009
Engraving with the Copper Wheel Lathe
This picture shows me at work, cutting lines, using a lathe-mounted fine line wheel, on "Forest Fire", a double overlaid crystal bottle.
The belt-driven lathe carries a range of inter-changeable spindles, each mounted with a wheel made from copper of varying width, diameter and profile, to suit the cut. These wheels are made from copper scrap, cut with a jeweller's saw, a hole is drilled in the centre and the wheel placed on the steel spindle. The end of the protruding steel spindle is then hammered over to form a simple rivet while the lathe turns - a moment when even the most experienced engraver holds his breath!
The cutting is executed by applying a slurry of carborundum grit, oil and paraffin to the turning copper wheel. The soft copper carries the slurry well, and is easy to reprofile using a sharp mild steel blade. Coarse grit is used for rapid and large scale excavation, fine grit for more polished, delicate work.
The engraver builds up a collection of spindle mounted wheels to suit his/her needs. Some curves may need several different line wheels alone to execute. Like other wheel engravers, I use diamond and fine stone wheels mounted on spindles as well.
Polishing is done
using a cork wheel mounted on a screw headed spindle, using a slurry of
medium pumice, followed by fine polishing with cerium oxide applied to a
hard felt wheel, also mounted on a similar spindle.
, 'Forest Fire', 20cm high
bottle in lead crystal, with green over orange glass overlay, blown to my
design by Neil Wilkin, then cut, polished and wheel engraved, 2000
m high green over ora
nge
Koi III, 20cm
high black on opaque red overlaid glass vase, blown to my design by Neil
Wilkin, cut, polished and wheel engraved 2004n to my design by Neil Wilkin, cut, polished and wheel
engraved 2000
'Edo
Orange III', acquired by the V& A Museum, South Kensington 2006
'City of Glass', acquired by Broadfield House Glass Museum, 2004
'Ytsuri II', acquired by CHeltenham Art Gallery and Museum, 2003
