Helen Brough; “Barcelona;” 2006; 5 layers painted glass; 30 × 22 × 25 cm; plinth: 121 × 22 × 25 cm; photo courtesy of the artist
Helen Brough has found that which goads art teachers earns glowing critical reviews. She’s recently turned the tables on herself by opening a working artist studio centered around design, architecture and glass art. The artist and gallery/studio manager plans to open her doors for monthly discussion sessions with the public which will shed light on her multi-step, multi-disciplinary art making process. She calls it 248 Workshop and it is located in an affluent London suburb, Highgate N6.
An interview with the artist published in New York Arts Magazine and conducted by Kim Carpenter suggests a bit of Brough’s background that could have inspired the creation of such a public art space. As much a painter as she is a sculpture artist, many of her works fuse layers of kiln formed glass with intricate, but not convoluted, images. Of her process she asserts to interviewer Carpenter, “I combine both. It’s somewhat of a cross-hybrid process for me…which was unsettling to teachers in college.” By giving the public access to her work space, she can shed more light on her unconventional, yet highly conceptual process. Her first planned open studio session is scheduled for September 9 of this year.
Brough has been invited to many corners of the globe for residencies and fellowships including a 6 month Triangle Residency in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY. It was there, in fact, that she met with David Fraser, a glass artist and enthusiast running The Brooklyn Stained Glass Conservation Center. Brough’s palate of artistic sources expanded when she discovered Fraser’s kiln in his glass studio directly below that of her residency. She was first working with resin which she shied away from due to its being “highly toxic.” Of Fraser she says, “David has taught me an enormous amount, and it is still an ongoing informal apprenticeship.”
Helen Brough; CCTV; 2007; 3 layers of kiln-formed glass with cold cathode lights; 45 × 32 × 12 cm; photo courtesy of the artist
It is not often artists can count on such mutually beneficial kismet to aid in their aesthetic growth and technical skill. Brough’s decision to implement a public space for art viewing as well as discussions and demonstrations of her process can serve the arts community in and around London, England.
-Katharine Morales