About me
Introducing Me
I’m a Brisbane based artist who works from a home studio and specialises in lampwork glass beads since early 2007. Lampworking is where glass is melted, layered upon itself and shaped to make individual and unique beads. I also design jewellery pieces based on my glass work.
Introducing My Art
Until recently I found it very hard to describe my own pieces because I try to work from the heart and make what I like and would wear myself. However, people who have commented on my work have helped me realise that my beads fall under two different styles.
The first style is an expression of my childhood fascinations where I would stare into paperweights, marbles and vases. They were simple bold shapes and colours that seemed to entrap beautiful swirls and bubbles frozen within its solid state. I also loved the powerful strength and weight that glass could produce and often thought that if I could wear a paperweight or a marble, then I would.
So today, I like to recreate these similar effects with my glass beads. I aim to create jewellery that looks bold, strong, and chunky and yet is lightweight and confident in its simplicity. The result is jewellery that is striking in colour and organic in shape, and well suited to the laid back casual jewellery style of a tropical city.
My second style is almost the opposite. These beads are widely different in shapes and colours, but are related in that they explore my love of patterns. They are an enjoyment to make as I can lose myself in the intricacy of the process and I can make such diverse patterns dependent on my mood… from playful to serious! These beads are intricately detailed with scales and circles comprised of differing patterns of coloured dots.
My inspiration for these beads comes from the times I enjoyed spent in my parents’ garden as a child being fascinated by bugs and flowers. The most introspective times were spent gazing at the shiny wings of Christmas beetles, fascinated by the false-eye on caterpillars or studying the patterns of flowers.
Within these beads I try and again to create these similar patterns in nature and in a beautiful form… to make a piece that gives the wearer their own place to gaze and get lost in wonder.