Maureen Charles

Maureen Charles – British, 1950

Maureen studied art at Ravensbourne Art College, then at Leicester
Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) where she first blew glass. A
lifetime of creativity in many media later, Maureen is again working with
glass.

Maureen says, “I draw inspiration from my sketchbooks. I’ve been
sketching my ideas for decades. The possibilities presented by the
medium of fused glass; colours, textures, glossiness, softness of form,
prompt me to find fresh interpretation of my original ideas.”

Working from new sketches, Maureen cuts, shapes and assembles
different glass elements for the first firing which fixes the parts together.
Following a 24 hour cooling and annealing process, the piece will be fired
again to form shape – perhaps a plate or a bowl. Sometimes,
additional fine detail will be added with traditional stained glass
painting techniques – also fired on. Further firing can include addition of
extra sparkle with applied lustres or gilding. The finished items are useful
objects that are also beautiful and decorative items which are joyful.