Thirty years ago having done a series of evening classes in stained glass Deborah left a promising career in the hotel and catering industry for a foundation course and then a degree in glass and ceramics. She put the ceramics to one side to focus on plaster (essential material in the making process) and glass. Deborah has never regretted following her dream and now has a rural workshop on the Borde Hill Garden Estate in West Sussex – a wonderful place to think and make creatively.
Deborah’s work follows several lasting themes, which have developed as she has invested more time in them. The rocky sculptures on show at Collect began when she spent time in the north east of Scotland. She says, “Each holiday is driven by my looking for inspiration and, now to my delight, photography, which I had viewed only as a tool has also become important, resulting in a camera, tripod and continuous photography courses.”
Deborah loves the whole creative journey of her rocky sculptures, from the inspiration to the making. She wants to make pieces which are evocative of the land, sky and sea, contrasting the defined edges of features like rocky outcrops, waterfalls, tree lines and stone wall with the softness of adjacent vegetation; her colours echoing the surroundings and maybe some rays of sunlight.
Deborah has exhibited at Coburg Glass Prize: International Glass Art Biennial in Belgium; Vitrum Balticum in Lithuania, and been selected several times for the British Glass Biennale. Additionally she won awards in China’s Craft Glass Creation and Design Competition. A piece is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, and other works are in private collections. Her work is always available from London Glassblowing’s gallery.