APPLIED ART : GLASS

Object Name: White Camelia Vase
Maker: Coleman, Katharine (Primary maker)
Coleman, N. K. (maker)
Coleman, Katherine (maker)
Coleman, Katharine (maker)
Date Made: 2011
2011
Description: Tall cylindrical green glass vase form with very thick walls. Cased and cameo engraved with all over pattern of leaves and camelia flowers. Engraved with signature and 2011. Purchased from the Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh. 4.55 kg emerald green glass overlaid on clear lead crystal, blown to Katherine Coleman's design by Potter Morgan Glass. Cut, polished and wheel engraved 2011. This piece refletcs one of Coleman's distinct themes of nature. The vase is based on Japanese green tea which is made from a white flowering camellia bush, which looks beautiful in flower. The tea itself is bright emerald green as well. Born in Sutton Coldfield 1949, Katharine Coleman is a freelance glass engraver and designer. She was taught point, drill and copper wheel engraving on glass by Peter Dreiser at Morley College, Lambeth from 1984-7 and continues to explore these techniques at her workshop in Clerkenwell. Katharine engraves on clear lead crystal forms, overlaid with coloured glass, blown to her design. Her work requires close collaboration with glassblowers Potter Morgan Glass. Once the glass has been blown and annealed, the top surface is cut away and polished, allowing one to see inside the piece. It is then engraved on the outside surface. The engraved decoration reflects and refracts onto the inner surface, creating the illusion of one body floating inside another. The optical properties of glass fascinate Katharine and she feels that they provide a rich world for the artist. The inspiration for her work is the beauty that can be found in the ordinary, whether natural history or the modern urban landscape. Katharine's work has been exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, USA and Japan and can be seen in many public collections (see below). She feels strongly that wheel engraving on glass no longer needs to be traditional in style or content, though she prefers traditional techniques, using lathe-mounted copper, diamond and stone wheels, to obtain the crispness, textures and fine finish, so much more difficult to achieve with sandblast and drill
Materials: Glass
Catalogue Number: BELUM.V2013.58
Notes: National Museums NI

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