It’s all about light: the magic of colour, movement, and reflection coming alive in glass.
Understanding an artist’s journey offers a deeper appreciation of their work, the influences, decisions, and passions that shape their creative path.
For Evelyn, it’s all about light. Her glasswork captures not just colour, but movement, translucency, and emotion, reflections that seem almost alive. Working from her South Warwickshire studio, Evelyn explores the expressive possibilities of fused glass through intricate processes and technical precision. Her pieces (whether bowls, vases, or suncatchers) evoke the natural world with vibrant intensity, shaped by patience, experimentation, and a love of colour. What results is glass art that doesn’t just catch the light, but holds it.
In this conversation, Evelyn reflects on her fascination with glass as both a technical and expressive medium. She shares how the unpredictability of kiln-fired glass invites experimentation, and how every piece is a balance of control and surrender. From the magic of light filtering through colour, to the challenges of mastering temperature and form, her practice is shaped by curiosity, patience, and play. Evelyn speaks with warmth and precision about the beauty of imperfection, the inspiration she draws from nature, and the joy of continually learning within a material that never quite behaves the same way twice.
LSA: What first drew you to glass fusing, and what keeps you coming back to it as your main medium?
I first tried kilnfusing glass at a summer school and was hooked straight away. The big draw for me is the ability to capture light within the coloured glass and this is what keeps me coming back. If you hold a piece of art glass up to the light on a sunny day the effect is magical and entrancing. The reflections and patterns created using different colours and textures seem to be almost living and it is this quality which I am always striving to capture and refine. It is all about light.
LSA: How do you approach choosing your colour palettes, and how much of that is guided by the material itself?
There are a wide range of greens and blues available in fusing glass but most other colours are limited to few different shades. There are enough variations to create contrast but if I am asked to create a whole image in, for example yellow, I only have two or three shades to choose from. I tend to prefer the blues anyway and usually find myself thinking in those colours, although I do love a dramatic splash of red.
LSA: What have you learned about patience or creativity through working with a responsive and sometimes unpredictable material like glass?
I love the technical aspect of my art, from knowing that you can not combine different makes of glass because they will crack, to understanding the intricacies of programming my kiln. To avoid cracks now or in the future, glass has to be gently warmed, held at a top temperature of between 750 º C and 810º C (depending on how much texture you want to achieve) and then cooled very carefully to take all the stresses out of it. Once you gain some understanding of this, it is fun to push the boundaries and explore what the glass will tolerate. Amazing effects can be produced when glass runs like honey and controlling this movement can lead to lots of experimentation. I have recently been creating drop vases which rely on the glass moving and stretching to create the vase shape and no two vases are ever the same. As for patience, I sometimes struggle with this when I want to open the kiln and peep inside before it is cool enough. I have to keep repeating the words “thermal shock” to stop myself.
LSA: You’ve explored a wide range of techniques, including Pâte de Verre and frit casting. Are there any you’re particularly keen to experiment with next?
I would like to develop and refine my use of Pâte de Verre to create more delicate and translucent pieces and I also want to push the designs of my drop vases to find out what happens to patterns when I apply different temperatures. A few years ago, I inherited my Dad’s glass enamels and I have been promising myself that I will explore how to create enamelled designs. Perhaps this summer will be the time.
LSA: Nature is a strong theme in your work. How does your environment or day-to-day life in South Warwickshire influence your designs?
Living in such a beautiful landscape seems to seep into my designs all the time. I love the flowers in my garden and the shape of the hills and valleys around me. A recent visit to see bluebell woods at Coughton Court has led me to trying to recreate the carpet of blues under dappled shade from the trees. Also driving down the A14 to visit family, imprinted images of churches nestled on the wooded horizon which have since emerged in a number of glass pictures. I feel lucky to live in such a wonderful, rich environment.
