Help preserve our future
West Dean is part of a registered charity and relies on the support of generous donors, friends, legacies to help us deliver world-class education in conservation and the creative arts and maintain our award-winning gardens.
Claire Hall
Glass artist Claire Hall originally trained as a sculptor with a BA Hons in Fine Art and a PGCE in Art and Technology. She has been teaching her distinct style of glass fusing for the last ten years as a regular teacher at Warm Glass UK and in glass studios across Europe.
Claire has been fortunate to technical assist world renown glass artists such as Bob Leatherbarrow, Alicia Lomne and Tanya Veit and has attended many glass masterclasses to further her technical expertise.
Her work is sold in galleries throughout the UK and she is currently Co Chair of North Somerset Arts, a member of the Contemporary Glass Society and the Somerset Guild.
My approach to teaching is to inspire creatively whilst giving students a thorough understanding of the technical aspects of glass fusing. It is imperative to understand the behaviour and properties of glass in both hot and cold states to fulfill the creative vision.
My own work is inspired by the natural world, mainly using powdered glass to create abstract two and three dimensional forms focussing on textural layers. In doing so I am pushing the material to its limits exploring glass as a thin flexible fabric, stitching with metal wires and imprinting with lino blocks and found objects.