Blown glass ‘Slice’ sculpture of cased emerald green glass with cut & polished edge by Samantha Donaldson.

Created by layers of coloured glass in emerald, the transparent colours merge and create further hues throughout the piece. An additional optical illusion is also created as these are not solid pieces, hidden within, is a small, hallow interior space.

These require intense making from the initial blowing to create the amorphic form, through to the laborious cold work working and cutting, to literally slice a section of the piece away and then polish the revealed surface.

Approx. 8,5cm high, 9cm wide & 5cm deep.

Samantha Donaldson is a contemporary glass artist specialising in hot and cold glass techniques. Having graduated from De Montfort University in 2009 with a First Class BA Honours Degree in Design Crafts, continuing her time at De Montford as an artist in residency, Donaldson went on to study her Masters at the Royal College of Art in 2012.

Throughout her studies, initially experimenting with other materials, Donaldson was continually drawn back into the glass workshops, resulting in a deep fascination with glass, the beginning of her artistic exploration and long term commitment to her chosen material.

Having initially developed a body of one-off sculptural free blown glass forms, realising the potential of using glass in an expressive and imaginative way, Donaldson continued to sculpt her glass to create mesmerising pieces, exploiting the hot blown glass to create layers of colours, which are then revealed through extensive cutting and polishing.

Inspired by the internal structures of naturally occurring geodes, it was during these investigations that Donaldson created a series of work influenced by the exploration of the 'vug', which is the internal space within a geode. A continuous theme to her work, the aim being to draw the viewer into the internal movement of each unique piece.

Donaldson won the The Design Trust award at MADE London in 2013 and was the Silver winner of the Craft & Design Magazine selected makers award in 2012. She was the recipient of The Pilkington Bursary award whilst at the RCA in 2011 and received The Albert Christopherson Collection award, De Montfort University, in 2009.