Amanda Brisbane was born in Knighton, England, on August 13th, 1964. As a teenager, Amanda was drawn to creating glass sculpture for the first time after visiting prospective colleges, and was immediately taken with the material. After studying glass techniques at West Surrey College of Art and Design and obtaining a BA Hons degree (1st class) in 1986, Amanda chose to specialize in the technique of sand cast glass. In 1986 Amanda studied at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and in 1995 received a Scholarship to Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA.

Amanda’s work has a masterful fluency that depends entirely on the casting being completed in a single stage.  As the molten glass begins to solidify, she intervenes, manipulating it with her hands, coaxing new shapes to materialize.

It is an intense, engaging process which captures the exact moment the sculpture comes into being. Amanda replicates the essential characteristics of her designs, while slight variations in shape and colour only add to their beguiling, dramatic charm.

Each piece of glass is a subtle collaboration of artistry and chemistry. Unusually, Amanda produces all the raw materials used to colour the glass herself. The Oxides used in the process are what help to define each sculpture. The end result is always something unique - an original work of art.
 

On seeing the sand casting technique for the first time, during her studies in the USA, Amanda Brisbane was instantly drawn to the textural finishes that the process generates - the subtle interplay between the fire-polished smoothness of the inner surface and the contrasting, coarser texture of the cast underbelly. It is a procedure that she has refined over the years; producing one-off glass sculptures that take on an organic, three-dimensional form all of their own.

Currently producing some of the UK’s most visually exciting, contemporary glass sculptures, Amanda’s greatest strength is her ability to embrace each new challenge with a vigour and enthusiasm that is caught in the spirit of her extraordinary glass pieces.

Click on the images below to see her current  Artwork.