Rising glass star, Bethany Wood graduated from De Montfort University in 2014 with a degree in Design Crafts, specialising in hot glass. Now based in the historic heartland of British Glass, Stourbridge, she creates her own unique artworks and also collaborates with fellow glass artist, Elliot Walker.

Finding inspiration from a wide range of sources, Wood’s influences are taken directly from the world around us, elements of the inner-city sit alongside expansive landscapes. Reoccurring themes are Graffiti & Urban Culture, exploration & travel.

An equal passion for painting physically inspires how she controls and manipulates her glass. Recreating the fleeting nature of brush strokes, Wood’s molten colours traverse across the surface of her glass canvases blending in a myriad of hues. Unlike their flat painterly counterparts, these combine and merge, forming spontaneous watery and lava like abstract relief flourishes.

In her own words;

“As a multidisciplinary artist, I have begun to merge my two artistic passions, painting and Glassmaking. I like to express myself with the fluidity of the material. The directional arrangement of a colour palette can form the depth of an abstract Landscape. I use my own paintings as a reference whilst making in the hot shop. Each individual artwork from my series has been inspired by a specific place.

Serendipity of abstraction has always been an inspiration for me; the coincidental elements which catch the eye of the viewer. The palette, composition and depth I have attained are taken from nature, with a bold but elegant swipe of my own personal, expressionist style.

If I was not an artist, I would have been a performer. I chose glass, which I do believe is a performance of art; both disciplines create the same energy. There is rhythm and adrenaline in glass making, within a routine that is planned very carefully.”

Artist portrait by Andrew Fox.