Verity Pulford specialises in kiln-formed glass, combining specialist techniques that give her great scope for experimentation and create her unique aesthetic.
Verity says, “Great craft is authenticity, quality, originality and work which speaks from the soul of the maker. Making is part of who I am: I would continue to make if nobody else ever saw the work, my experimentation, the successes and failures, making pieces which have started inside of me.”
The range of techniques in Verity’s work include pâte de verre, gravity forming and casting, and architectural techniques such as painting, engraving and sandblasting. Current pieces have developed from her project ‘Gardens of the Mind’, funded by Arts Council Wales, and conceived during a residency at The Walton Neurological Hospital (an Arts Council England funded project for Bluecoat Display Centre). At The Walton Verity was introduced to drawings and photography of microscopic human biology, mainly of the brain. The similarities between these and plant structures were fascinating and have started her on a transformational journey.
This led to a change of direction in Verity’s practice, a moment of metamorphosis in her journey as a maker, fuelled also by a scholarship at The Glass Foundry. She’s using new techniques, including cast glass, working with glass powders to create intricate and delicate shapes, and using gravity in the kiln to shape fluid and organic-feeling vessels.