Artist's Statement from Stuart Garfoot

Artist's Statement

I have always been fascinated by the rich, abundant, colourful, natural life forms found undersea on coral reefs. These complex, animated, bold, liquid creatures are, like us, held together in an almost spiritual dance of communication and mutual survival. They are at once dynamic and independent single life forms, unique and wonderfully individual, yet completely interdependent in 'family' groups, generations of life flowing one into the other. Frozen in a moment they are caught in all their imaginary, fluid and graceful beauty.

Today as my latest work evolves I find the interaction of this splendour being compromised and poisoned by the inadequacy of mankind, so that forms and surfaces undergo increasing metamorphosis in the ecological paradox of survival.

I work in a mix of glass making techniques which reflects my visual language as a glass artist and designer. I translate the colours, forms and textures from the reefs through blowing and centrifugally casting glass into individually hand formed objects where nothing can be repeated more than once, capturing the essence of their life through light, movement and colour.