Meet Bruce Marks
Bruce Marks was bitten by the glass bug when he first discovered lampworking. Intent on becoming a glassblower, Bruce introduced himself to Peter Layton in 2001 and spent a number of years assisting at London Glassblowing before becoming the Studio Manager and Peter’s principal colourist, helping him test and explore a myriad of colour applications.
Having attended a glass sculpture master class at the British Glass Biennale in 2006 Bruce commenced the development of a new series of sculptural works. Internationally renowned for his Bird sculptures, Bruce draws inspiration from the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. He completed a Masters Degree at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham in 2010 and was awarded the Gold Award in the Glass category of Craft & Design Selected National Awards. Bruce’s works are in public collections at the Turner Museum of Glass and Broadfield House Glass Museum.
About The Work
Birds, an ongoing series, has been hugely successful and its evolution has attracted an avid and enthusiastic public following. Bruce has achieved deceptively simple abstract forms, which allude to bird-like shapes. A longtime admirer of Brancusi, Bruce envies the sculptor’s ability to capture the essence of his subject, creating a purity of form with minimal detail, whilst projecting profound presence.
Over the years the Birds have become more elegant and defined and Bruce had perfected his techniques to make them in an array of colours. His Fish series is a continued exploration into a Brancusi-style approach to sculpture, but with more detail in the surface treatment and use of colour. These pieces are made using colour overlays, then coldworking the surface of the glass to produce striking pattern and colour variations.
