Gavin Marshall, GMA Glass

“My work is influenced by the potential of glass; I am attracted by its capacity to adopt form and texture and the unique ability it has for light reflection/refraction and optical illusion,” said Gavin Marshall, Highly Commended Newcomer at the British Craft Trade Fair 2006. Gavin’s work ranges from functional vessels to sculptural installations, with glass creations that are incorporated into interiors and architecture. It was his effective display at bctf of this exciting variety of work that first caught the eye of the Craftsman judges.

“The Newcomers at bctf have a neat 2m x 1m space, which is fine for makers of small items, such as jewellery, but it takes some serious creative thought to be able to display and represent larger work such as Gavin’s on a stand of that size,” said Angie Boyer. “Exhibitors need to quickly communicate visually with the buyers at the trade fair and inform them at a glance about their range of work. With Gavin, this covers such a diverse selection, but by showing some of his smaller, functional pieces, alongside photographic images of his large architectural work, buyers were able to distinguish between the two and easily see the potential for their own galleries or shops. His display at bctf complemented the clean lines of his glass work brilliantly and illustrated just how much can be achieved in a relatively small stand space.”

Gavin graduated from Sunderland University in 1999, gaining a BA Hons in Glass & Ceramics, where he also received the Award of Excellence in Architectural Glass. The University of Sunderland’s Glass, Architectural Glass and Ceramics Departments are all located at the National Glass Centre, which is itself a unique venture dedicated to promoting glass in all its uses; in design and technology and as a vehicle for artistic expression - reflecting on the strong history of glass in the region, yet supporting and encouraging contemporary glass artists as they take the skills and techniques forward into the 21st century. 

“Following the success of my Degree show at the National Glass Centre, I decided that I would have a go at forging a career as a glass artist,” Gavin explained. Through hard work and accepting the challenge of some speculative ventures, together with completing a Business Course, he was able to develop his business so that he could buy some equipment and set up his studio.

“I was employed after graduating, when I first set up my business, then I worked part time in a kitchen - I have worked in a few kitchens in my time! Whilst working, I completed a seven week business course with Project North East, which enabled me to also complete a business plan and gain funding from Newcastle Council, Northern Arts and the Prince’s Youth Business Trust. With the funding - and pretty much every penny I had of my own - I was able to set up my studio at Lime Street in Newcastle.” 

Almost forty artists and makers are based at the Lime Street Studios, all working in different disciplines and all part of ‘36 Lime Street Ltd’, a co-operative which is run democratically on a non-profit basis and which aims to provide secure, affordable studio spaces for artists and craftspeople, thereby contributing towards the regeneration of the building and the area.

Gavin uses sheet glass, manipulating it in a kiln and with machinery to produce his finished artworks, whether it’s a small glass dish or a ten metre long wall sculpture, the process and techniques used remain the same. “I try to keep my designs as simple as possible. I use textures of everyday materials or objects to create moulds for slumping the glass over. I base a lot of my wall sculptures on movement, whether it’s the flow of water or a flock of migrating birds. Glass is a liquid and I try to use the inherent strengths that the material possesses,” he said. “Glass has many guises; it can perform, it can please and it can solve many solutions. It is a material familiar to most people on an everyday basis and has been used for thousands of years by ancient cultures and civilisations for its aesthetic beauty and unique qualities,” he continued.

“Through my work I wish to manipulate these ingredients to produce attractive and desirable works of glass. I find the more simple the approach, the more successful the outcome. I also find inspiration in modern and pre-Columbian architecture and in the land drawings that decorate, or once decorated, the landscape, using the earth’s surface as a canvas.”

Since setting up his business, Gavin’s commissioned works have been many and varied; including glass window panels for ‘The Telegraph’ in Newcastle in 2001; kiln formed glass ‘Orchid panels’ for a walkway in Manchester Royal Infirmary a year later; a suspended glass sculpture in the atrium of the OBC Shipping Company building in Stockton; kiln formed glass panels in a Newcastle primary school; 60 interior lights for a cruise liner built in Holland; and most recently a series of light boxes entitled ‘Memories in a Box’ for the Radiology Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.

“I would say that I earn most of my money through commissions, but I am currently changing my website so that I can sell more of my work online,” he said.

As a member of Cohesion, the North East based networking organisation for glassmakers, Gavin has had his work shown at some of the most prestigious national and international shows and exhibitions. In addition to exhibiting at bctf 2006, he has also shown his work at major public events such as Crafts at Bovey Tracey in Devon and there are a number of UK galleries which currently stock his work.

His plans for the future include relocating to Cobalt Studios. “It’ an amazing building, the first of it’s kind in Newcastle. It has been undergoing a complete renovation which has taken a very long time, but I hope to be moving after Christmas.”

The North East of England has long been associated with glassmaking and visitors to the area will find the region is still rich with glass, no longer the manufacturing and factories of a few centuries ago, but more attractively with individual makers - people like Gavin, working to create spectacular pieces in their small studio surroundings.