Waterjet Technician
I am a Glass Artist, Waterjet Technician, and Researcher. In my role as Waterjet Technician, I support BA, MA, and PhD students in their projects using waterjet cutting and digital fabrication. I also facilitate commercial waterjet projects and residencies for National Glass Centre.
In my current personal practice, my work explores the metaphorical properties of air and glass for sculptural expression, often incorporating the human form as air entrapment. My PhD research investigated and developed new techniques to create and control complex air-bubble entrapment with precision inside the internal space of glass, through the application of digital and kiln technologies such as CAD, waterjet cutting, kiln fusing, and casting methods.
My work is in the collections of National Glass Centre, the Shanghai Museum of Glass, China, and the Alexander TutsekâStiftung Foundation, Germany,and Pittsburgh Glass Center, USA.
Research
I grew up in County Durham and West Yorkshire. I graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a First Class degree in Three Dimensional Design with a specialism in Glass and Metal. I completed my masters through the University of Wolverhampton's Edinburgh Crystal Scholarship and spent a year as in-house glass designer for Edinburgh Crystal.
In 2003, I left Edinburgh to pursue my own practice and was encouraged by the support of National Glass Centre, which offered inexpensive studio space and technical expertise. My studio practice was based at National Glass Centre for nine years, during which I worked as a full-time, self-employed glass artist, making work to sell through galleries and commissions, undertaking corporate commissions for Sage, Nova International (Great North Run), and HSBC as well as numerous private commissions. I also ran a second glass business, Juo Ltd, with co-director Jessamy Kelly, from 2006-2012, specialising in fused glass panels for domestic interiors and corporate projects. We created work for Newcastle Building Society, Newcastle NHS Trust, and Sunderland City Council among others, and won the Pearsons Prize for Glass in Commercial Interiors.
I studied for my doctorate at University of Sunderland alongside my studio practice from 2009-2015. In my PhD research, I developed a new technique in kiln-formed glass which incorporated the processes of waterjet cutting and kiln-forming, to develop and contain complex air-entrapment forms and imagery in the internal space of glass, a first in glassmaking. The research transformed my practice towards more personal, sculptural work for exhibition.
I continue my artistic practice from my studio at 36 Lime Street Studios, Newcastle, and exhibit in the UK and internationally, alongside my work as Waterjet Technician for University of Sunderland and National Glass Centre.
See my website: jomitchellglass.com