Gavin Marshall
Glass
Gavin Marshall graduated from Sunderland University in 1999, gaining a BA Hons in Glass & Ceramics, where he also received an Award for Excellence in Architectural Glass. Following the summer of 1999 he enrolled on Business startup course which enabled him to put together a business plan and approach funding bodies for match funding. The funding applications were successful so equipment was purchased and Gavin set up his first studio at 36 Lime Street Studios, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Operations were carried out at Lime Street until the move to Cobalt Studios in 2006. Before moving onto the Glass and ceramics course at Sunderland Gavin spent some time on a building Management degree course at Northumbria University and has had experience working in the building trade. This earlier experience in building and construction has played a major role in his approach to understanding of and his working with glass. Gavin knows the importance experimentation and realizes that his approach needs to keep changing and evolving to produce original and exciting products, artworks and installations.
“I try to keep my designs as simple as possible. I use the texture 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”.
“Glass has many guises; it can perform, it can please and it can be the answer to many problems. It is a material familiar to most people on an everyday basis and has been used for thousands of years by ancient cultures and civilizations for its aesthetic beauty and unique qualities”.
“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.”
Q&A's
Describe your creative practice in 20 single words.
Quirky, fun, serious, complicated, colourful, playful, industrious, architectural, difficult, joyful, educational, experimental, exciting, examining, fulfilling, testing, humorous, serious, practical, beautiful
Describe your influences using 30 single words or short phrases.
Texture, feeling, touching, seeing. Birds flying, nature moving, the world we build, the world we see, the world that was. Construction, landscapes, waves, motion. People, beliefs, sense, colour, invisible colour, civilizations, religions, artists, designers, makers, architects, thinkers, the ocean, the universe, shape, form, eras, styles, genres, sounds, music, life.