Studying the art of glassmaking: The Makers of Morley
jmonblat
Morley College London is a leading provider of glassmaking courses at its centres in North Kensington and Waterloo. Morley’s courses offer “a deep dive into the craft of glassmaking to develop hands-on craft skills which can be applied to both artistic and commercial settings.” Courses include Kiln-formed Glass, Pate de Verre, Cold Working, Casting, Stained Glass and Surface Decorations.
Morley has established a reputation for welcoming established artists from other disciplines, as well as seasoned glass artists and newcomers to glass. Morley graduates have gone developed successful careers as architectural and sculptural glass artists.
Our recent graduates include Natasha Redina, an award-winning stained glass artist who studied on Morley’s UAL Diploma in Art and Design/Glass. Last year, Lui Shi, a BTEC student at Morley shared 1st prize in the Contemporary Glass Society’s Graduate Award 2024 for an extraordinary glass dress design.
We caught up with two current students taught by senior glass tutor Maria Zuleta at the North Kensington Centre for Skills to discover their passion for glassmaking – and their experiences of studying glass at Morley.
Carmen Martin Lopez
Carmen attends two courses at Morley – a BTEC Level 2 plus an Advanced Workshop which she has attended for “ at least five years”. Carmen is passionate about her glassmaking practice.
Carmen, what is the joy of glassmaking for you?
“Well glass is an amazing material, it is so versatile! There are so many different things you can do, the possibilities that the glass gives you are endless.
I really like glassmaking and I just love the way Morley course tutor Maria [Zuleta] teaches. She goes through the basics, you can learn a lot, and learn something new. It gives me great satisfaction and happiness.
Can you share some of the techniques you’ve learned?
At the start we learnt all the skills – and then you can combine your creativity with those skills to create pieces of art. What I love the most is experimenting because really is the way you learn. You experiment, you learn, you create the next piece, you have a concept in your head and to develop it towards that concept.
At Morley I’ve created stained glass, fusing, slumping, imprinting dry plaster, print, painting, also lots of different kinds of printing: screen-printing, screen with monoprints, techniques that are developed through making moulds with silicone and clay, making the wax moulds, and then creating the piece of glass. Other techniques I’ve used include cold working as we have access to the tools we need to finish and polish at the end because – when the glass comes out from casting, it needs polishing.
Some students like to focus on one technique. I love to learn and practice lots of techniques
because when I have a concept in my in my head and I want to create a piece, I put those techniques in service of that concept.
In my BTEC Level 2 class I am currently creating different pieces of stained glass and painted glass. While in the Advanced Workshop course I am doing fusing, using the whole colour palate, and polishing – which takes forever!
Maria, who is a really an amazing teacher. She is so knowledgeable and so generous with her learning, she covers everything!
Carmen’s work was recently selected to be part of CSG’s January online exhibition
Beverley Gee
Beverley also attends the Advanced Glass Workshop with Carmen, and has taken glass courses at Morley since 2020 and completed a BTEC in 2023.
Beverley, what do you enjoy most about glass- making?
I find the material really fascinating. I like pushing the boundaries of the material – it’s almost infinitely flexible and that is fascinating. It allows you express yourself through glass.
What skills have you gained through study at Morley?
I’ve developed a real understanding of the material and I’ve developed my technical skills. I feel in the years I have spent at Morley I have become technically very proficient and I feel confident in working with the medium. These techniques inform my ideas, and having that knowledge of the possibilities is very freeing. At the Workshop class, we not only do our own work but also learn other techniques like negative core casting.
Maria’s teachings are incredibly clear, she teaches process incredibly well and her practice and studio is very good – and I like that.
In my work now I now use two main techniques: I am making sculptural pieces using block casting with interior patterns and then changing those by cutting and then I’m polishing it. They’re quite architectural. On the other side, I’m doing quite a lot of casting now and I put things up thing that I find, mainly pieces of wood I find on the ground and I am casting them – and really enjoying how that transforms into something else.
Would you would you recommend glassmaking at Morley?
I do often recommend glassmaking at Morley! It’s quite rare to find such well run and taught glass course. I think Maria has developed a centre of excellence, really. I think that we be more of the pleasures that I get from the courses is the clever people [students] working to such a high standard under Maria’s guidance and the freedom to have a go.
I think having other people who are doing the classes with you is really important, you talk about stuff you learn and bounce ideas off each other. You sit and we’re always looking at what everybody else is doing because, you know, it’s especially it’s impressive. So I find that for me is a positive part of the experience.
Find our how you can unleash your creativity and explore Morley’s glassmaking courses here
