Penny Riley-Smith
Glass, ceramics, painting
Glasshouses, near Pateley Bridge

Penny Riley-Smith
Glass, ceramics, painting
Glasshouses, near Pateley Bridge

My work
About my work
I bought my glass kiln a few years ago and have fallen in love with the art of creating in glass, its transparency, colour, and effects of light. Working with kiln fired glass involves careful planning, designing, cutting, then laying the work in the kiln, and there is nothing to beat the excitement of opening the kiln as it cools, to see how this tricky material has adapted itself to the idea in my mind. I also continue to work in clay, enjoying its hands-on plasticity. It offers very different challenges, although there is the same joy of opening the kiln to see the results. Ceramics, being opaque, make you focus on the surface. Some of my pots are textured with antique lace, others are saggar fired with copper wire and seaweed adding to the textures. I am currently on a degree course in Ceramics and Glass at Sunderland University, the home of great glassworking, and am expanding the range of my work.
About
I moved to Glasshouses in 2001 looking for the peace of the countryside, and in Nidderdale found a rich community of artists working in many different media, some of whom join me at the Broadbelt Hall exhibiting as ‘Minerva’s Owl and Friends’. I have always worked with whatever materials suited the subject I was working on at the time, watercolour, ink, pastel, ceramic, stained glass, and textiles. Recent work has included blown, waterjet cut and kiln fired glass, and ceramics. My wanderlust has taken me travelling with astronomers to see solar eclipses in unexpected deserts and oceans, travelling with textile artists to learn from the weavers, indigo dyers, block printers and potters of India, and coming back with my head full of rich colours and patterns which have found their way into my art. Closer to home I have also used glass and clay to explore the movement of air and water, fish and birds, and continue to be inspired by living and working in Nidderdale.
NiddArt Trail Live
Find me at:
Minerva's Owl and Friends at The Broadbelt Hall
24th - 26th August 10am - 5pm
For further details of what's going on at Minerva's Owl and Friends at The Broadbelt Hall over the NiddArt Trail
Contact
- Website: https://www.cgs.org.uk/artists/riley-smith-penny/
- Email: glassinglasshouses@outlook.com
- Phone: 07804 374814
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See my work at:
The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle at https://www.thebiscuitfactory.com/collections/penny-riley-smith
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