Sommercalmo by Vic Bamforth
26th July 2014
Just arrived are these wonderfully uplifting new pieces by Vic Bamforth. A riot of colour, they are the perfect antidote to the grey winter mornings.
Sommercalmo Collection, from 29cm to 44.5cm H
About Vic Bamforth, b. Hull 1952
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 latest collection ‘Sommercalmo’ he has thrown off the laborious yet rewarding hand painting and concentrated on the techniques of ‘sommerso’ and ‘incalmo’, both of which inspired the collections name. This has allowed a more intuitive, freer way of working.
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 shortlisted 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.
Sommercalmo Collection, from 29cm to 44.5cm H
About Vic Bamforth, b. Hull 1952
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 latest collection ‘Sommercalmo’ he has thrown off the laborious yet rewarding hand painting and concentrated on the techniques of ‘sommerso’ and ‘incalmo’, both of which inspired the collections name. This has allowed a more intuitive, freer way of working.
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 shortlisted 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.