CATHERINE HOUGH

Arc, 2007.
Blown glass
12cm x 26cm x 11cm

The mid to late 1970’s was a very exciting time to be a glass student at Stourbridge College of Art, as the studio glass movement was relatively new and experimental, and the glass industry in the area was still thriving. This meant that for learning hot glassmaking and cold working techniques the college could provide us with access to people whose knowledge and skill had been acquired through generations of working in the local factories. In addition college tutors such as Keith Cummings, George Elliot and John Smith provided a pragmatic approach to help us broaden our artistic knowledge, and experiment, develop and interpret ideas using our still meagre, but growing, technical abilities.

After completing my B.A. in glass at Stourbridge College of Art I spent two very useful years as Artist in Residence at Royal Brierley Crystal and then in 1980 joined The Glasshouse in London. With still very few hot glass studios in existence this was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and develop my own style as a maker in an established studio environment. By 1985 I began working at Glass-Works (London) Ltd, with Simon Moore and Steven Newell, my work at that time encompassed repeatable functional pieces and deeply carved one-off forms with a purely sculptural identity. In 1997 I formed my own company, Catherine Hough Glass.

My ideas and their development have evolved during my many years of practice, but there are some themes that have been fairly constant. Pebbles, geological strata, birds, fish and plants are a constant source of inspiration. Pieces on these themes include ‘Dancing Bottle’ a winged form in the Crafts Council collection and a three part ‘pebble’ structure in the V&A Museum in London. My work has always been about form and material, and personal involvement in every aspect of the making process. It always starts with the creation of the blown glass form, an essential characteristic of which is that the volume and distribution of the glass should facilitate its transformation through a range of cold working processes to reveal its final form.

Since 2003 I have concentrated on non-functional abstract forms that challenge my use of cold working techniques. An example of this is ‘Arc’ which is part of a series of pieces based on spheres and circles which explore the interplay of line and movement created by the transparency and opacity of the glass, and the effect on the form of changing light and reflections.

Biography pdf

Catherine Hough filler