Vic Bamforth
1952, United Kingdom
Bamforth is an artist who has helped to bring the highly demanding graal technique into the 21st century. He combines hand-painting and glass blowing skills to create one-off internationally collected sculptural works of art.
In essence what drives his work are the dynamics of colour, movement, and the unique properties and qualities of glass itself. Inspiration is drawn from life’s experiences. How he feels, what he is thinking, people he has met, places he has visited and the world around him. The blown form has provided him with the ideal three-dimensional canvas with which he is able to express his own personal experience of - and to also reflect upon - life. He creates instantly recognisable, vibrantly painted, humorous one-off glass art pieces using specialist high firing enamels.
With his collection ‘Sommercalmo’ Bamforth has thrown off the laborious yet rewarding hand painting and concentrated on the techniques of ‘sommerso’ and ‘incalmo’, both of which are used within the collection's name. This has allowed a more intuitive, freer way of working. In turn, these experiments in colour have inspired his latest works "Tricolarial", as ever there is a hint in the name, for these are created employing 3 colours which result in a much larger array of hues within in each unique piece.
Bamforth has exhibited internationally, most noteworthy being the annual ‘Sculptural Objects and Functional Art’ (SOFA) fair in both Chicago and New York. Three of his pieces were short listed for the prestigious 3rd British Glass Biennale Award 2008 and subsequently included in the exhibition at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge, UK. He has work held in private collections in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia & Australia and has work in the collections of Broadfield House Glass Museum in Stourbridge and The Bournemouth & Poole College, Dorset, UK.
Bamforth is currently based at the Ruskin Glass Centre, which is located in Stourbridge, the heart of glass making in the UK.
In essence what drives his work are the dynamics of colour, movement, and the unique properties and qualities of glass itself. Inspiration is drawn from life’s experiences. How he feels, what he is thinking, people he has met, places he has visited and the world around him. The blown form has provided him with the ideal three-dimensional canvas with which he is able to express his own personal experience of - and to also reflect upon - life. He creates instantly recognisable, vibrantly painted, humorous one-off glass art pieces using specialist high firing enamels.
With his collection ‘Sommercalmo’ Bamforth has thrown off the laborious yet rewarding hand painting and concentrated on the techniques of ‘sommerso’ and ‘incalmo’, both of which are used within the collection's name. This has allowed a more intuitive, freer way of working. In turn, these experiments in colour have inspired his latest works "Tricolarial", as ever there is a hint in the name, for these are created employing 3 colours which result in a much larger array of hues within in each unique piece.
Bamforth has exhibited internationally, most noteworthy being the annual ‘Sculptural Objects and Functional Art’ (SOFA) fair in both Chicago and New York. Three of his pieces were short listed for the prestigious 3rd British Glass Biennale Award 2008 and subsequently included in the exhibition at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge, UK. He has work held in private collections in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia & Australia and has work in the collections of Broadfield House Glass Museum in Stourbridge and The Bournemouth & Poole College, Dorset, UK.
Bamforth is currently based at the Ruskin Glass Centre, which is located in Stourbridge, the heart of glass making in the UK.
Artworks by the artist
