Helen Slater kiln-forms glass in multiple firings to incorporate lenses and imagery, making one-off sculptures and limited edition works, for galleries, or commission.
Helen says “I am constantly driven by the exciting possibility of my next piece. Great craft is work that technically, materially, visually and emotionally engages us.”
Helen draws on places or feelings she wishes to communicate. Sketchbooks, diagrammatical planning and digital design feed the creation, then she proceeds to the workshop. After kiln firing, she manipulates the glass further using hand engraving, grinding and polishing processes. These unique pieces vary in scale, from dramatic life size figures, to be displayed outdoors, to delicate table top casts for interiors.
New works are a result of Helen’s PhD research into ‘The Optical Perception of Image in Glass’ – new craft techniques she’s developed using digital and analogue design. She combines notions of spatial perception with current issues around encroachment, distancing and proximity. Titles reference dialogues on health, social inequalities and overcrowding, as we consider our perception of the space between us. Geometric forms analyse the mathematical quantifiable nature of space. Her work suggests virtual, almost holographic, time-based spaces which animate and change in harmony with the observer’s movement.