Let us introduce you to another of our current exhibiting sculptors:
Anne Arlidge is a glass enthusiast! The ancient art of glass working fascinates her; molten glass that is shaped, cast or blown.
Anne came late to glass. She was an occupational therapist, latterly in several Asian countries. On her return to England, and when her children were old enough, she first took an A level in art, then a BTEC in Art and Design, followed up by a degree in ceramics and glass at High Wycombe, a three-year course, which she says was one of the most exciting things she has ever done!
Recycled Dartington lead glass is Anne’s raw material, in her studio workshop just outside Henley-on-Thames and in the workshop in Stourbridge which she uses for her hot glass work.
In the present Turrill Garden exhibition Anne is showing, hanging in the trees, solid glass globes shaped on the rod that gathers the glass from the crucible. Globes that glow in the light, dazzle in sunlight and at dusk, as if there’s a nightlight within. There are also glass drops hanging on elegant blacksmith-wrought stands which react similarly to light, but a little more subtly.