Glass Beach Hut

Year 2000.

The Glass Hut is a celebration of Love, family, childhood, friendship and hope.

I lost my wonderful mother to cancer when I was 15 years old and my lovely father a few years later. My brother and I also lost our family home ‘The Inch’ in Southwold and treasured family possessions. This time was devastating and traumatic and had a long lasting effect on my life and work.

I wanted to create something beautiful out of such an awful time, one that would give hope and joy to others too.

I decided to create a glass sculpture based on a life sized Beach Hut, exploring my love of colour and surface decoration. A memory box, people could walk into.

My family spent many happy holidays in my grandparents Beach Hut in Brighton and living in Southwold and seeing how many family and friends loved spending time together in such a small space, it seemed the perfect shape to make.

The hut is made almost entirely from glass, which has been decorated using a variety of traditional and contemporary methods, such as screen printing, etching, sandblasting, fusing, kiln fired painting and staining.

I purposely used a mixture of bold shapes and words to signify childhood and also used treasured personal letters and notes to decorate the glass panels. I made my drawings into silk screens and printed directly onto the glass which were then kiln fired.

The Glass Hut took several years to complete around other projects. It has been been exhibited in several exhibitions and been featured in Amazing Spaces with George Clarke for Channel four.

The Glass Hut has been made for indoor or outdoor use and can be dismantled for easy transportation.

Other Huts, themes, content and designs have been in the works. Large glass panels have also been designed and installed in many private homes. Smaller panels will soon be available from the gallery.