Local glass artist Sue King talks to Dulwich OnView about her work and her studio in south London.
As I sit here writing in my study, I can’t help casually glancing* out of the window and admiring the striking glass sculptures in my next door neighbour’s garden. That’s because I live next to Sue King, an artist who creates these stunning pieces of fused glass. I went to pester her and find out how she does it.
Sue works using thin strips of coloured glass which, when laid out flat on a clear sheet and fired at temperatures around 800° C then fuse together, to create these seamless and mesmerising pieces.
The skill comes in knowing which colours go together and how best to arrange them on the plate. And they aren’t just plates or flat pieces either. Sue makes everything from bowls, platters and coffee coasters to ornamental garden sculptures, wall-mounted pieces and door/window inserts, often working to commission from people who want an intriguing and unique installation made for their home.
“I enjoy the collaboration with clients. Finding out what ideas and colours that they like, talking to them about their inspirations and how they want a commissioned piece to look. I will work up some watercolour sketches, and create some glass colour samples which I’ll then discuss with the client. Once the initial sketch design is agreed, I make up a scaled-down glass ‘maquette’ in the kiln to check they are happy with the actual colours and design in glass, and then I’ll make up the final piece.”
If you’re interested in the customer-artist relationship you can read a story about the commissioning and design process of a specific panel for a local house.
Sue has worked as an interior designer so has the eye for what works well in the home. She broadened her horizons a few years ago, studying glass at Central Saint Martin’s College and starting up on her own.
I paid a visit to Sue’s studio’s open house last weekend to see her at work. Cockpit Arts studios is a wonderful place, hidden away on a Deptford back street. This former council building has been adapted to provide studios for designer-makers. There’s everything there: ceramics, screen printing, jewellery, fashion, textiles and much more. The open weekends happen twice a year and are a chance to meet the designer-makers and find out more about what they do.
Sue showed me her studio – including her impressive kiln, which she fires up at night because of the heat – and some of her latest work which was on display, along with some of the tools and materials she uses in her work. It’s great to get this behind-the-scenes view and to find out what goes into making these beautiful pieces.
Cockpit Arts describes itself as a ‘creative-business incubator’. That is, the artists who work there are not simply hiring space. For a small fee each month they get to attend lectures and seminars on marketing, finance, retail and all the other things one needs to know about in order to survive as a long trader in the arts world today.
When I went, there I got the sense that there’s a really strong community in the building.
Sue says: “People are very friendly here. We network quite a lot together and share experiences, good and bad! It is such a supportive place, as working on your own can be difficult, but in Cockpit there is always motivation around and bouncing off of ideas. I certainly couldn’t do what I do, without that support and camaraderie, plus the business support that is offered.”
Cockpit also acts as a lobbying force for the maker-designer sector and has a current manifesto called Maker Difference which is aimed at getting us to buy unique, hand-crafted pieces from makers like these people, rather than mass-produced, imported and overpriced rubbish from Sweden.
The next Cockpit Arts open studios is in December and is a great opportunity to stock up on some unique stocking fillers for Christmas gifts. Sue takes part in the Dulwich Open House each May as part of the Dulwich Festival and has her own website.
In the meantime she is working on a few commissions, including glass wall panels for a new bereavement centre at Newham hospital where she’s hoping to bring a moment of calm to an intimate and personal space.
What creative people we having living round here! It’s amazing what you see peering* out of your back window.
*(snooping)
