The Name
My name is Jackie, so you might wonder why my business is called Emma Grace.
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The name is an amalgamation of middle names. Mine is Emma and my gorgeous daughter's middle name is Grace.
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And so, Emma Grace Glass Art was born
The Inspiration
I love the ocean. It is my biggest inspiration for both painting and creating fused glass.
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As a family we visit the coast as often as we can.
I am a calmer, happier person when I can see, smell and feel the ocean.
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I like to find a horizon line in much of my creative work. For me the horizon gives me a sense of space and freedom. It is like a natural spirit level, giving me a sense of balance.
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The waves create movement and texture and the ocean itself provides nature's most beautiful colour palette of blues and greens.
The Journey
Having always loved art and colour, I discovered glass making in 2013. I attended various courses in fusing and slumping in Bristol, and for me, it was love at first kiln firing.
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I had no idea at the time that my great grandfather Andrew was a glass blower in the 1920's and 30's in Portobello, Edinburgh and then Glasgow. It seems that my love of glass was perhaps in my DNA.
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Following a long and busy corporate career in HR, it took a pandemic, redundancy and change of lifestyle for me to take the plunge and begin my own glass making business.
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I now create glass art in my small home studio, exhibiting and selling at galleries, artisan events and with independent retailers.
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I am a warm glass artist, which means that I work initially with cold glass, which is then kiln formed into fused and slumped art.
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Glass pieces can take many hours to create. One kiln firing is around 22 hours, so if a piece requires multiple firings, it is a lengthy process, requiring precision and patience.
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Quite often when I paint, I am inspired by photographs I have taken or places I have visited (usually seascapes).
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My homewares are inspired by contemporary home decor, combining colours, and finding unusual patterns in art glasses.
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My abstract glass art pieces are usually borne out of my imagination. I try to always create work that I would like to own myself. If I don't think I will love it, then I don't want to invest time in making it.
My work incorporates glass in many forms including frits, powders, stringers and reactive glasses, as well as a range of inclusions from metals, wire, oxides and enamels.