Katharine Coleman presents her solo exhibition A Fine Line, featuring eleven new works inspired by the many locations Katharine has visited to teach glass engraving over the past decade; from Upstate New York to Beijing and back home again. Each example is a personal memory of the place and her own art journey, which has since the 1980s been dedicated to glass engraving. Also included in the exhibition are three works from the late 2000s from the Larry Brown Collection.

This exhibition is particularly special as it not only marks the artist’s 70th year but is also her last solo exhibition. Katharine is an astute planner as well as a consummate professional and she has planned her retirement with meticulous attention to detail. This does not mean that her career ends here, far from it – she currently has a four year lease on her London studio (a brisk 30 minute walk from her home in central London) and enough ‘blanks’ blown by Andy Potter of Peter Morgan Glass to continue making new work for her remaining time in the studio, as well as continuing to teach glass engraving in London and abroad.

Now considered one of the UK’s outstanding craftsman, Katharine was awarded an MBE for services to glass engraving in 2009. She was elected an Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London and a Freeman of the City of London in June 2015.

Click here to purchase a copy of the publication that accompanies the exhibition.

Katharine Coleman

Born: 1949

Place of Birth: Sutton Coldfield

Katharine Coleman studied engraving techniques with Peter Dreiser 1984-6 and was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2003 (Glass), awarded an Honorary Mention Prize at the Coburg Glass Prize 2006 and the Glass Sellers inaugural prize for Engraving on Glass 2007. In 2009 Katharine was awarded an MBE for services to glass engraving. She engraves on clear lead crystal forms, overlaid with coloured glass, blown to her design. Once blown and annealed, the top surface of the glass is cut and polished to allow one to see inside the piece, which is then engraved. The engraved decoration reflects and refracts onto the inner surface, creating an illusion of one body floating inside another. The inspiration for her work ranges from natural history to the modern urban landscape.

‘For many years, I have been interested in the optical properties of glass and how engraving on the glass surface may produce unexpected and fascinating effects on and in the glass itself. I rely heavily on the skills of glassblowers Potter Morgan Glass to realise my designs in colour overlaid crystal and enjoy the challenge of joining hot glass design with cold working. Japanese art and design, the famous engravings of Ernst Haeckel and modern architecture have all informed the subject matter of my work, as has what the American philosopher Thomas Moore so eloquently described as “the beautiful ordinary”.’ – Katharine Coleman

Public collections include:
National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Germany; Alexander Tutsek, Munich; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Shipley Art Gallery; Kamenicky Senov, Czech Republic; Corning Museum of Glass, New York

In December 2015, The Gallery hosted All The Year Round, a solo exhibition from Katharine Coleman. Twelve new works in glass were specially created for this exhibition, one to represent each month of the year.

Katharine Coleman’s solo exhibition A Fine Line took place in November 2019. An accompanying publication can be viewed and purchased here.

A Fine Line

Katharine Coleman

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