Annie Robina Glass Designs
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Profile


Education

1975 : Cardiff College of Art Foundation Diploma
1976 - 1980 : University of London Goldsmiths College; BA Fine Art/ Printmaking. PGCE in Art

Post Graduate



Fine Art/ Printing was her first speciality, from the years spent at Art College and stained glass as a working medium, came from a single project.

From this first panel Anne found herself captivated by the magical transformation that takes place when light passes through coloured glass.

Directed by the principles of light transmission, the interplay of light and colour by reflection and passage through glass awakened a new vitality within her design horizons. Her previous extensive art training, and the disciplines of printing and teaching were expanded in a new and deeply satisfying direction.

As a working medium, glass can first appear alien in it’s rigidity, and requires rigour and precision compared to the more instinctive freedom of pen and ink. However, a finished piece of stained glass creates an atmosphere, and it makes an impact as it is constantly changing in the play of light from dawn to dusk and is imbued with vitality. It can overwhelm the senses with restless swirling forms that fragment the light source and disrupt the viewers focus. It also has the ability to invoke a sense of the spiritual into the most phlegmatic of individuals.

Anne has fully developed craft working skills, honed over many years. All of her projects can be designed to employ one or more of the techniques of copper foiling, leading, glass painting, glass fusion or a combination of them all within one piece.

Anne now lives in a rural part of Monmouthshire, surrounded by trees and woodland, and it is from this environment that she takes most of her inspiration.

Artist's Statement

"It may be an overworn cliche to say that my work is inspired by nature , because that surely applies to  most artistic endeavours to a greater or lesser degree .Nevertheless, living in the countryside especially during lockdown when the one thing that I could do was to walk for hours on end across fields and through woodland. I became increasingly fascinated with the forms and lines within that are ubiquitous to the structure of the British  landscape.

Several years ago , my husband had just undergone some very radical surgery followed by radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. I knew that I needed to be creative to be able to cope more efficiently with the situation , but found it too difficult to take on the rigours of figurative work. I began to doodle onto some pieces of scrap glass that still had unfired paint on them. These doodles became patterns and the embellished  glass sections that resulted became part of a design for stained glass. I produced many of these which could be reshaped and manipulated to illustrate part of a theme. 

They have since evolved because of my  relationship with the landscape, and furthermore my background in printmaking seems to be influencing  an experimentation with simple printing techniques that are also becoming included in my designs.

 As I move forward I have been looking more at texture and how this could define a relationship with the glass ,as well as  the colours and the images contained within each design. The juxtaposition between the glass and wood in its more natural state encourages a perspective of bringing together the natural world from the outside into the domestic environment of the home ."

  

Contact Annie

If you would like to get in touch with Annie to ask about any glass design tuition courses or to comment on any of her work, please visit the contact page here.