Gail Boothman

My work is mostly inspired by the natural world, sunbursts, scapes and flowing forms. The ever-changing drift of nature and our beautiful Dorset coast is endlessly fascinating; I see curves, shapes, colour and texture everywhere I look.  I do enjoy just standing still and gazing around. I can find such a range of colour where I don’t expect to find much at all!

I always remember a poem from childhood that starts;

“What is this world, if full of care
There is no time to stand and stare;”

I think that says such a lot!

I utilise a variety of materials and techniques including sheet glass, glass rods, powdered and crushed glass, to achieve a range of textures and finishes. It allows me to create the feeling of depth within a finished piece of glass art.

I love how the flexibility of working with glass means I can create a new wall design one day and then work on a distinctive jewellery piece that combines my love of glass with my own silver designs the next. Even the process of creating my lampwork beads is ‘art in miniature’ and uses similar techniques to those used by the Ancient Egyptians and the closest I get to ‘blowing’ glass! Using molten glass, I build layer upon layer of colour so delicately and intricately. All these exciting challenges encourage me to experiment, to push my craftsmanship and to test new techniques and combinations – it really is amazing!

As I move forward from here, one of the things I am looking to develop further, is a technique I started experimenting with during ‘lock down’ where I am using lots of texture through powders, chopped and crushed glass to create vistas that capture my imagination. I am getting abundant inspiration from our weekly walks around Dorset and have already had gratifying results and interest in the pieces I have produced. I have a lot of ideas and images sailing around in my brain waiting for me to transform them into glass.