OFF-SITE PROJECT

This artwork has been inspired from the working conditions that were significantly endured from men and boys that worked in a 17th century glass house cone. The White House Glass Cone Museum, The Red House Glass cone and the surrounding area where there were once 23 glass cones, being a major influence. The four subsections I developed each pieces of work from, are: The Enormous Temperatures, The Child labour, The Dark and Smoky Atmosphere, and The Eye Strain.

The 'Bruised' piece was designed from child labour and a statement revealing that when the children would have an accident, such as dropping a finished piece whilst taking it to the lehr, they would be hit and beaten resulting in numerous large colourful bruises.

The dark 'Smoky' piece was inspired from looking at smoke, how it creates a thick layer and lingers around in the atmosphere, whilst at the same time how it can create beautiful swirls in its movement.

The design for the 'Eye Damage' piece developed from the eye strain condition has strongly been influenced by ‘Glass Blowers Cataracts’. Which is a condition caused by chronic exposure to infrared radiation from working with molten glass and the damaging effects of UV light that can be encountered.

Lastly, the 'Heat' piece inspired from the extremely high temperatures that the men and young boys would have to work in was developed from how wood can appear to be burning from the inside out. Covered in a thick layer of soot on the outside, but the intense heat is felt and visible through cracks on the sooty burnt surface.

To me, my work is representing a mixture of the alluring material that was used in the glass cones to create appealing, delicate objects and the destructiveness behind creating them that wasn’t prevalent in the glass pieces coming out to the public. My overall vision was to create four pieces that ultimately represent four glass cones in the Wordsley c.1900 landscape, that is pictured inside the Red Cone.