Nina Casson McGarva
1990, United Kingdom
Born in Gloucester in England, Nina Casson McGarva grew up in rural central France in the middle of the Burgundy countryside. Surrounded by a family of creatives & makers and growing up in an environment full of nature and craft, definitely influenced her life and artwork.
In her own words about her work;
“The starting point in my work is nature. I take a detail of an element I find in nature and use it as an inspirational base to create my own abstraction, that then builds into a complex sculpture. My inspiration comes from cycles of nature that I associate with glass because to me the material goes through a cycle and is at it's most alive when it’s hot and being transformed. The end result is solid and doesn’t move any longer, it is at the fragile time before disintegration and maintains a dynamic form and rich structures such as dry leaves, feathers or sea shells. In the making process I shape it hot in an open kiln until the glass stops moving. When the glass transforms to be a solid, the piece is finished”
McGarva trained, learning the basic technical skills of glass blowing, at the Ecole Nationale du Verre Jean Monnet (a technical college for workers in crystal glass factories) and at the Glass and Ceramics Workshop on Bornholm (part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) where she started to use other glass techniques such as casting, fusing and experimenting with several new processes. Since graduating in 2014, McGarva has been on three notable Artist residency programs;
Shin-nagata glass residence Kobe, Japan (2019) | Eair Program at Pilchuck Glass school in Stanwood, WA, USA (2015) | Starworks in Star, NC, USA (2014)
Casson McGarva has shown her work throughout Europe and in the USA. Most recently, she was selected as one of 60 artworks for the Toyama International 2024 Glass Exhibition.
In her own words about her work;
“The starting point in my work is nature. I take a detail of an element I find in nature and use it as an inspirational base to create my own abstraction, that then builds into a complex sculpture. My inspiration comes from cycles of nature that I associate with glass because to me the material goes through a cycle and is at it's most alive when it’s hot and being transformed. The end result is solid and doesn’t move any longer, it is at the fragile time before disintegration and maintains a dynamic form and rich structures such as dry leaves, feathers or sea shells. In the making process I shape it hot in an open kiln until the glass stops moving. When the glass transforms to be a solid, the piece is finished”
McGarva trained, learning the basic technical skills of glass blowing, at the Ecole Nationale du Verre Jean Monnet (a technical college for workers in crystal glass factories) and at the Glass and Ceramics Workshop on Bornholm (part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) where she started to use other glass techniques such as casting, fusing and experimenting with several new processes. Since graduating in 2014, McGarva has been on three notable Artist residency programs;
Shin-nagata glass residence Kobe, Japan (2019) | Eair Program at Pilchuck Glass school in Stanwood, WA, USA (2015) | Starworks in Star, NC, USA (2014)
Casson McGarva has shown her work throughout Europe and in the USA. Most recently, she was selected as one of 60 artworks for the Toyama International 2024 Glass Exhibition.
Public Collections
Imagine Museum St Petersburg, Florida, USA • The Glass Museum Lette, Germany
Exhibitions and further information
2021 Formed From Instinct Solo Exhibition • Formed From Instinct | An essay by Emma Park • Formed From Instinct Film
2019 Artist Showcase
Artist portrait courtesy of the artist.
Imagine Museum St Petersburg, Florida, USA • The Glass Museum Lette, Germany
Exhibitions and further information
2021 Formed From Instinct Solo Exhibition • Formed From Instinct | An essay by Emma Park • Formed From Instinct Film
2019 Artist Showcase
Artist portrait courtesy of the artist.
