Artist Statement 

Bethany Walker's practice is a continuous exploration of and experimentation with the materiality of glass and metal. Having grown up in the Black Country, the heartland of England’s glass and steel industries, she gravitates towards these two materials. They link her to her childhood and represent the familiarity of her industrial heritage.
Bethany’s interests lie in human nature and human conditioning. Her creative process is driven by deciphering how people behave, feel, react, support one another and stand alone. She then produces a tangible response to these transient feelings.
Walker works with the inherent qualities of both her chosen materials. Glass - producing watercolour-like qualities, merging and flowing streams. She juxtaposes the emotive visual power of flowing glass with metal armatures, a metaphor for the human form. She pushes the boundaries of these mediums to their limits through making, observing and learning, capturing the ways they react with each other. Selecting contrasting and complementary colours, based on how they evoke certain emotions she is trying to portray.
The sculptures emerge from a liminal space between control and freedom. There is an element of planning - the rest is chance.  She observes the glass melting and reacting to the metal, then intervenes at a precise point to  crash-cool the kiln. Freezing an ephemeral moment and allowing the materials to make their own poetry.

About

Born in the West Midlands, UK, Bethany Walker graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2020 with an MA in Ceramics and Glass; she was  awarded a grant from the South Square Trust for outstanding work to help fund her studies. She received First Class Honours for a BA in Contemporary Crafts from Falmouth University in 2014, where she specialised in metal and glass. Bethany has won numerous prizes including a scholarship from Corning Museum of Glass, New York to attend their summer school in 2019, she won The Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers Prize 2020, as well as a bursary from The Bullseye Glass Company. Bethany has shown work at various exhibitions including 'The Power of Material: From Virtual to Physical', The Design Museum, London, UK; as well as in her Solo Show ‘A Glimpse of Glimmers’ , Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis, UK. Her work features in notable private collections and most recently she was commissioned by Disney/Marvel to make 24 pieces, which were featured in ‘The Marvels’ movie released in 2023.

Education

2020 - MA Royal College of Art, Ceramics & Glass