Katharine Coleman studied point, drill and copper wheel engraving on glass with Peter Dreiser at Morley College, Lambeth from 1984-7.
Two themes have long interested her – the illusion of a smaller vessel apparently suspended inside a larger one, the effect of both reflection and refraction of an engraved outer surface onto the inside surface of a thick walled clear glass vessel; also the sculptural beauty of simple natural objects, particularly those humble ones found in everyday life.
Katharine’s glass is blown to her design by glassblowers Potter Morgan Glass and Sonja Klingler. Her clear lead crystal forms are overlaid with a thin layer of coloured glass. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, USA, New Zealand and Japan and can be seen in many public collections and publications. Katharine believes wheel engraving on glass no longer needs to be traditional in style or content, though she prefers traditional techniques, using lathe-mounted copper, diamond and stone wheels, for the crispness, textures and fine finish, so much more difficult to achieve with sandblast and drill.
The V&A’s recent short YouTube film "How Was This Made? Glass Engraving: Katharine Coleman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=230uCZj2RPs was made in 2022 to show this technique.
Katharine still teaches glass engraving. From time to time she teaches wheel, drill, sandblast and point engraving at the BildWerk Frauenau Summer Academy in Germany. The last course was in late August 2022 www.bild-werk-frauenau.de and occasionally at the Corning Museum Studio USA.
Katharine's work was selected for the prestigious 2022 Coburger Glaspreis finalists' exhibition in Coburg and also for the National Glass Centre European Glass Prize exhibition, the first glass prize show hosted by the NGC Sunderland.
FILMS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJut8MiPkMo The Art of the Wheel – Katharine Coleman made in July 2017 by Anthony Scala for Peter Layton’s 80th birthday exhibition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=230uCZj2RPs made by the V&A Museum for the UN International Year of Glass 2022, "How It Was Made", "Glass Engraving: Katharine Coleman" demonstrating the engraving of a bowl.
